Dumpster Message
by DreaminDreya
Summary: Ichimatsu discovers someone had been feeding his cats. How dare he or she try to take his only friends away from him! Before he can give him or her a piece of his mind, it turns out to be this really cute girl, who for some reason is not afraid of him. Why was she not afraid? Why was she giving such a genuine smile to trash like him?
1. Chapter 1

"Damn it, Osomatsu. That's the second time this month," cursed Ichimatsu when he discovered his allowance envelope devoid of the cash he saved. No matter where he hid his money, his eldest brother would somehow find it. Even when he placed it within the walls of the bathroom, his brother still found his stash by removing a very specific tile behind the toilet. He was especially unamused by the note he left him. "I owe you again!" it said with his signature at the bottom corner, and out of rage, the younger brother crumpled it in his hands. That money was gone, lost at a pachinko parlor or a horse racing venue. Of course, there was no chance that Osomatsu would ever pay him back, even if he had won. All Ichimatsu could do was groan, holding his head as he mentally kicked himself for not using his money sooner. He needed it for his cats, his only friends, and the only forms of life that would come near him without fear. But after going a whole week without food, he was worried that they would stop visiting him altogether if this continued for another week. The alley between a convenience store and a ramen shop was their favorite hang-out spot, but the cats would only appear if he brought food. Whenever he would try visiting them empty handed, it was like they were never there, and he was alone again. The loneliness that had been following him for years would consume him once again, and it was the worst feeling he had ever experienced. It was like a mixture of feeling crushed beneath a great weight, in addition to the unbridled anger stemming from sheer jealousy of others with friends. Finally, the worst of it all: the feeling of numbness.

Ichimatsu patted the pockets of his purple sweatshirt and navy sweatpants, and found a little bit of change stored inside. He tirelessly searched every nook and cranny of his house, finding small bits of lost change hidden under the furniture and in his brothers' dirty clothes. Holding all the change he collected, it must have totaled to five hundred yen, which should just be enough for a small bag of dried anchovies. Luckily, anchovies were his friends' favorite, and just maybe he could see them today if he brought it.

When he arrived at the convenience store, he quickly grabbed the dried anchovies and waited in line. Once it was his turn, the total came to just under five hundred yen, and he paid by piling a mound of coins onto the cashier's counter. The sighs and groans from the customers behind him were rudely loud, and even the cashier seemed irked by the amount of change she had to count to complete just a single purchase. He was not sure if it was his own insecurities, but he was hearing the words "scary", "poor", "pitiful", and "trash" in all directions.

"Just keep the change," he hissed, as he just left with the bag. The cashier, too frightened by his tone to argue, just let him go.

For years he had accepted those words to his own person, and it still hurt as much as the first time he heard them. He still could not remember where it all went wrong, or why he could not make any friends. Somehow, it just started in high school, growing into an endless cycle of fear and seclusion. People naturally assumed him to be frightening, which then led him to adopt a dark demeanor, and thus force more people to be fearful of him. He never wanted anyone to be afraid of him, but it somehow ended up that way. To make matters even worse, he developed a fear of his own, fear of other people. Years of isolation nurtured his phobia, which greatly worsened his ability to form relationships with others. His fear of rejection and disappointment crippled him from making friends outside of just cats. Like the stray cats thrown out by people, he felt like a stray as well, cast out by society and left to fend on his own. He never wanted anyone else to feel the same as he did, and thus he took it upon himself to help other strays. At the very least, the stray cats did not judge him.

He entered the alley adjacent to the convenience store he left, and could already hear the adorable mews from the cats all the way towards the darkness. This was a good sign; they were already here waiting for him, and he could not wait to see them. Pulling up his cough mask to ward off the intense smell of piss and rotting trash, he was getting closer and closer to the food bowls he left for them. Usually midway inside, the cats would come up to him with their begging calls, but they all were still occupied at the very end of the alley. This puzzled him, but he thought maybe they caught a mouse, since he failed to bring them food last time.

"Hey, guys," he called out, opening the bag of dried anchovies, "I'm sorry about last week. I brought your favorite treats, though. Don't hate me too much." He stopped in shock, seeing his friends eating from the brimming bowls. It was full of cat food, and judging by the shape of the chow and how enthusiastically the cats were eating, it was a premium brand. Someone had fed his cats, and though he should be relieved, he was not. There was outrage as well as panic that grew within him as he watched his friends happily eat their meal. His paranoia and loneliness forced him to believe that someone was trying to take his friends away from him, by absolving him of his only form of responsibility. Taking care of his cats was the only thing in the world that gave him purpose. To have someone else interfere and take that away from him meant he was completely useless. He could manage living his NEET lifestyle without a higher education, or a job, or a girlfriend, but to take his friends away would make him disappear. It was unforgivable; who was cruel enough to do this to him?

As hatred filled him, he planned to confront whoever was meddling with his relationship with his only friends. It did not matter to him what age or gender the person was, but he or she would feel his wrath. He was in no way a strong man in the physical sense, but his dead pan stare and almost psychopathic demeanor could scare off even the yakuza. Even his brothers would quake under him when he was this upset. With anger in every step, he stormed home to plan out how to get rid of the intruder. No one would ever get between him and his cats.

The very next day, after waking up with his five identical brothers, he skipped breakfast just to be able to catch whoever was feeding his cats. He left abruptly, without saying a single word to his five brothers, who just watched him leave their room as breakfast was served. It was concerning to them since he would never skip a free meal, no matter how upset he was.

"I wonder what's got him so bothered," the third brother, Choromatsu, inquired.

The youngest brother, Todomatsu, joked, "Maybe he's on the hunt for his next murder victim?"

With a mouth full of food, the fifth brother, Jyushimatsu, replied, "Or maybe it's a girl!"

"Hmph!" the second brother, Karamatsu, scoffed while crossing his arms, "It's refreshing to see my little brother find lo-"

"Ichimatsu and a girl?" the eldest brother laughed, completely interrupting his second brother, "Even if she consented, it'd probably be rape!"

The joke was so crude and uncalled for, but it made all five brothers laugh loudly and uncontrollably as they were slamming their hands on their table. They were laughing themselves to tears, but that slowly died as the thought of their fourth brother raping a girl grew more and more vivid in their minds. In their silence, they agreed that it was not completely implausible for their brother of darkness to commit such a heinous crime, especially since all six of them were virgins in their late-twenties. Desperation was a powerful motivator, and if Ichimatsu became a sex offender, that meant the rest of his brothers, being identical sextuplets, were also sex offenders from sharing the same face. All of them lost their appetite, and they rose from their table to follow their fourth brother.

The antisocial brother stopped at the entrance of the alley way and waited in front of the convenience store. He squatted patiently with his surgical mask over his face, trying to look as inconspicuous as he could for a man waiting by an alley. His brothers were close, but not close enough for him to notice, since he was quite focused on catching the culprit who was trying to take his friends away. The other five sextuplets were gathered behind a mailbox across the street, receiving confused stares from passersby.

"He is up to something," the youngest brother whispered, "Like a serial killer."

"We'll just wait here. He can't do anything if all of us are on watch," the third brother assured.

The eldest yawned after only a minute of watching and said, "I'm bored. I'll see you guys later. Let me know if Ichimatsu rapes anyone."

"W-wait! Big brother Osomatsu!" Choromatsu called out, but he could only watch the eldest brother walk away without a care.

Then Karamatsu patted his back and said, "It's alright, burazaa. Us four will make sure Ichimatsu doesn't attack any girls and ruin it for the rest of us."

"Big brother Jyushimatsu's octopus hold is more than enough to subdue him," Todomatsu added.

"Right," the third brother nodded and all four carefully watched.

An hour had passed, and while Ichimatsu remained vigilant, the determination of the other four brothers was wearing thin. It was slowly becoming apparent to them that their creepy brother was simply just a creep, not a rapist.

"What a waste of time!" the youngest complained, "I'm going home!"

"How foolish of me to think that my own brother would try to rape anyone. I should have more trust in mai burazaa!" the dramatic second brother exclaimed.

The reasonable third brother sighed, "I guess we just think too little of him. Come on, let's go home."

As the three were about to leave their hiding spot, their hyperactive fifth brother screamed out to Ichimatsu, "We're going home now! Don't rape anyone!"

Immediately, the three dogpiled the energetic brother back into their hiding spot before the fourth brother could react. Hearing the shout, Ichimatsu turned towards the source, but quickly shrugged it off to focus on finding that person. For him, there was too much at stake, and he was not going to let anything stop him. The coast was clear for the other four as they carefully snuck off before their dark brother could notice them. They could be making a ruckus for all that was worth, because their brother had his eyes fixated on a girl around his age carrying premium cat food. Being in a hurry, she took no notice of the creep waiting by the alley as she entered, but that creep slowly followed after her.

The other four brothers were quite a distance away, but Jyushimatsu was lagging behind. His attention was towards the cute girl that appeared, but he jumped to panic as he watched his dark brother get up and follow her down the equally dark path.

"Ichimatsu is in the alley with a girl!" he shouted towards the rest of his brothers, forcing them to freeze in place. Quickly, they turned back and rushed towards the alley with their reputation at stake.

The girl reached the end of the alley, and she poured the expensive cat food into the three bowls, allowing the cats to come out of their hiding places to eat. Too focused on tending to the cats, she did not notice a dark entity creeping up behind her. Suddenly he stopped in place, just a few feet away from her and his friends. He never expected such a cute girl to be the culprit, and his virgin urges were making him have second thoughts. Letting his desires take hold, he admitted to himself how pretty her crème colored dress was, and how nice it looked paired with her lavender jacket. Her hair was so long and so black, definitely his type, and the fact that she liked cats enough to feed the stray ones was also a plus. He felt his anger completely leave him as he grew more and more infatuated with her, but he shook off the foolish thought.

"As if she would even consider me," he chastised, "She's way too good for trash like me. I'll just chase her off so she doesn't come back here anymore." Before he could say anything to her, he felt his arms and legs being twisted, and his body was bent forward and locked in an awkward manner. This was a familiar position, and then he realized that this was the octopus hold. "Ah! Jyushimatsu, let go of me!" he shouted while squirming in his brother's grasp.

Alarmed by the sudden shouting, the girl yelped when she saw five figures in the darkness behind her. Five grown men and one small woman in an alley was as suspicious as they come, and the situation the brothers were in grew worse the longer they stayed. At this point, if she were to scream and catch the attention of anyone passing by, and then got the police involved, all five brothers would get charged. But she remained silent, yet in awe as if she was still surprised to have discovered them.

"W-wait! We weren't going to do anything, I swear!" the second brother quickly spoke, trying to diffuse the awkward situation.

The youngest lied, "We took a wrong shortcut home! Sorry, miss!"

"We'll be on our way now," the third brother bowed profusely as the hyper brother dragged out the dark one.

Ichimatsu yelled and struggled in the overpowered grip of his younger brother as he was getting dragged away. When trying to get one more glance at the girl, their eyes locked, and he peered deep into her familiar dark eyes. It was as if he was peering into the abyss that also existed within him, and he would willingly be lost in them forever. The look she had on her pretty face was just pure astonishment without even a trace of fear, and he had no idea why. The way she tucked her long, dark hair behind her right ear with a smile in such a flirty manner beckoned him to say something, but he honestly had no idea what to say. All she did was feed his cats.

"Thank you!" he managed to shout, and then was stunned to see her expression change to a genuine, appreciative smile.

"It was nothing at all!" she replied, and her voice was burned into his memories. It was so foreign for someone to reply to him with such sincerity.

The five brothers returned home, letting their angered fourth brother scream obscenities at them during the trip back. Once they were in their room, Jyushimatsu kept him locked in the submission hold, as the other brothers surrounded him.

"What's the big idea?" Ichimatsu snarled.

"We should be asking the questions!" Karamatsu spouted, and crossed his arms, "What were you going to do to that girl, huh?"

"She was…" he trailed off, deciding against explaining why. "I wasn't going to do anything. I just wanted to feed the cats."

"Is that so? Then where's the cat food? HUH, RAPEYMATSU?" Todomatsu shouted.

"R-R-Rapeymatsu?" he responded in bewilderment, "I wasn't- I wasn't- WHAT?"

"I know you're upset that you're still a virgin. We all are still virgins, and I get that you're just sexually frustrated," Choromatsu sighed, and tried to console him, "But if you do any sort of criminal activities, then it affects all of us! We're sextuplets! We all have the same face, for crying out loud, Ichimatsu!"

Growing weary of their outrageous accusations, he responded, "I wasn't going to do that! Is this how you guys really think of me?"

"I'll let you borrow some of my dirty mags if it'll help, Rapeymatsu," the hyper brother said as he shuffled towards his stash.

"We'll even give you more time alone in our room so you can vent out some of that frustration, burazaa," the pain-inducing brother added.

"I don't need that," he flustered, even though he does rub one out in their room every so often. It was growing futile to convince them that he had no violent intentions towards that girl, but they seemed more relieved that they were able to stop him, patting themselves and each other's backs.

"Cat food girl was really cute though," sighed the youngest brother.

"She would've been a great addition to my Karamatsu gaarusu," the second brother commented, though there were no other girls in his fantasy harem.

"Too bad she thinks we're perverts," the fifth brother shrugged, while still maintaining his permanent smile.

The third brother sighed, "Yeah, she's a total loss now."

Ichimatsu said nothing in his corner, as he held his knees close to his body. He could not stop thinking about her. Her hair, her dress, and her eyes were vivid in his mind as well as her voice. It carried a prominent accent, suggesting that Japanese was not her first language. However, she did look Japanese, but it did not make sense for someone to not know their own native language. Perhaps, she was Korean or Chinese, he thought. Even if she was not Japanese, she was still really pretty. It was so strange for him to be constantly thinking about her. Even his heavy crush on Totoko, a girl he had known since childhood, was not this overbearing. His mind that was usually occupied by porn and cats was now fully overrun by a nameless foreign girl, just because she looked directly at him and smiled. He wondered why she was not afraid of him like the others. Perhaps this was a sign that maybe there was someone out there for him. Someone that would want to get to know him. Someone that would want to be with him long enough for a relationship to blossom.

"She would never want me," he thought to himself clutching his knees tighter, "I want to see her, though."


	2. Chapter 2

For an entire week, Ichimatsu had watched the cat food girl feed his friends from a safe distance. Every single day, he froze in her presence because he was too afraid to confront her with the feelings he had been harboring. Luckily for him, he managed to keep himself hidden while in his frozen state, and the girl never noticed him spying at her from a distance. He was embarrassed with himself and felt more like a creep for succumbing to voyeurism. It could not be helped; she was so pretty to look at from afar, and at this distance, he would always be able to see her. She tended to his friends every single day for the past week at a very prompt time. Following her schedule was very easy for the voyeur, as he was always able to catch a glimpse of her with her premium bag of cat food entering the darkness of the alley. If any of his brothers caught wind of him stalking this girl, then he would never hear the end of "Rapeymatsu". There was no way for him to convince them that he really wanted to talk to her and that he was starting to like her, mostly because he was embarrassed to admit it. Even though he promised himself that he would approach her, he still remained frozen in place until she left the alley and was out of sight. Only then was he able to move, and instead of chasing after her, he would retreat into the alley where his friends were eating. Consoling himself with his cats was still the only form of love he could hold down, but it did not satisfy him as much as it did before he saw her. Typically, a day with three or four cats were just enough to make him feel happy, but he still felt empty within him. It was that numbness again, and he knew exactly why. His desires were taking control of him, and those selfish, unattainable desires would prevent him from feeling happy again unless he had her. He was so ashamed of himself: too cowardly to approach her, and too disgusting to be loved.

As he occupied himself with his cats, trying to gain some sense of security from them, he never noticed another figure looming behind him. The figure spoke out, "You really are trash, Rapeymatsu." The sudden noise startled him straight, but he quickly realized that his eldest brother was there with him. Osomatsu chuckled from spooking his younger brother, grinning from ear to ear and scratching the bottom of his nose.

Trying to save face, Ichimatsu pulled up his emotional walls once again, and responded to his brother with a scoff, "Yeah, I already know that. So what?"

"You should be more subtle about it. You've been stalking her for a week now, haven't you? That's a whole new low for you, Rapeymatsu!" he mentioned, still keeping his grin. Taken back from such a harsh comment from his brother, the younger brother could only respond with another scoff. The older brother then told him, "You're delusional if you think a cute girl like that would ever give you the time of day. Why don't you just give up already before you creep her out so much that it ruins my chances with her?"

The seething younger brother gritted his teeth as hard as he could, trying to suppress the growing rage within him. It was not uncommon for his elder brother to be so cruel at times, but this was one of his worst moments. Osomatsu was so open, so candid, and so optimistic. He was everything that the younger brother was not, but he was the vilest person he had ever met, butting into any of his brother's affairs whenever a girl was involved. The sole reason why all of them were girlfriendless virgins was because of him, being the perverted, handsy, and obnoxious shit he was. If anyone would scare away cat food girl, it would had been him.

"Whatever," Ichimatsu brushed off, "Do what you want."

The cocky smile creeped back onto the older brother's face as he replied, "Alright! Wish me luck!" He turned and left the alley, leaving his little brother behind.

Never had he loathed himself as much as he had now, for outwardly saying the opposite of what he was thinking. His hands grabbed his head, and he intensely curled within himself, holding back his overflowing emotions. Over and over again, he internally called himself an idiot for letting his older brother do as he pleased, and now his chances with her were pretty much shot. His eldest brother ruined it again, and it was all his own fault. This was the curse of being a sextuplet; though he may be his own person, in the eyes of society, he was also his brothers. Regardless of how different he really was from his older brother, they still had the same face. He could blame him all he wanted, but he was the one who enabled him, just because he was to cowardly to speak to her. All he wanted was to just say something to her, more than just a "thank you".

From the corner of his eye, he found a beat-up slab of cardboard torn from the rest of it. As he stared intently at it, it suddenly gave him an idea. There was an old marker near the dumpsters as well, probably used by a homeless person to create his or her own cardboard message. With just barely enough ink, he wrote, "What's your name?" and left it at that, propping it on the dumpsters near the food bowls. It was possibly the most pitiful thing he had ever attempted, but this was his first initiative step after years of passively going with the flow of life. The cat food girl was always prompt with feeding the cats, and so she should easily see this message. As he left the alley to return home, he could only hope she would respond once she saw this.

He took the slowest route home as he reflected on what he left behind for the girl. Separate scenarios played in his mind: the best being her leaping into his arms and the worst being ignored. The worst stemmed from his insecurities, tricking him to believing that he was not good enough for her and that she would not even spit in his direction. Still vividly, he remembered her kind words; the sliver of hope left in his person believed that she would respond.

Once he was home, his five brothers were there as well, and he could hear them talk loudly from their room. It seemed like Osomatsu just recently returned from the sound of their conversation. Ichimatsu waited behind the door to their room as he eavesdropped on his brothers.

"You went and talked to the cat food girl?" Choromatsu spoke up, stunned from the boldness of his eldest brother.

Osomatsu sighed, "I tried to talk to her, but she brushed me off saying she needed to get back to her university. College girls are so cold."

"Hmph!" the second brother scoffed as he ran his fingers through his hair dramatically, "I think she made the best call."

He scowled at that remark, "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Shittymatsu?"

"She's a lost cause, big brother Osomatsu," Todomatsu mentioned, "I'm pretty sure she thinks we're all perverts for ganging up on her in the alley. That makes you a pervert by association."

"Way to go, you asses," the eldest grumbled, "What a waste! She was super cute!" Unable to salvage a chance with her, he decided to change the subject. He mentioned, "You guys never told me she was a foreigner. Her accent is pretty thick. Is she Korean or something?" The rest of the brothers shrugged in response, knowing less about the girl than the eldest did. Despite just discussing how attractive she was, they started cracking awful jokes about her.

"Why would a Korean girl come study here anyway? She didn't come all this way just a find a Japanese husband, did she?" the eldest asked in a joking matter.

The second brother mentioned, joining in on the joke, "I'd treat her well as long as she stays as a submissive wife."

The eldest snickered, "I wouldn't be able to handle the smell. Kimchi is disgusting. Are you sure you want to smell that every night in bed with her, Karamatsu?"

Trying to top the crudeness of his eldest brother's jokes, the dramatic brother replied, "She'll just have to give it up. Since she came all this way, she must miss Imperial Japan." The other four's jaws dropped from shock, then tried their best to hold in their laughter from such a terrible joke.

"That's really mean. You don't know a thing about her, though," the reasonable, third brother responded, biting his lips to hold in his laughter.

"Ah, they're all the same anyway," the eldest brushed off.

"As if this country needs anymore Zainichi Koreans," the youngest spouted while texting on his phone.

"T-Totty! That's racist!" the hyper brother replied in shock. The rest of the brothers were just as surprised from their youngest brother's statement. Perhaps, that joke pushed it way too far.

"Y-you're not secretly a Zaitokukai supporter, are you, Totty?" the third brother asked, nervous about his answer, "There's so many secrets you keep from us."

"I-I was kidding!" Totty replied, trying to diffuse the tension his awful comment started, "I don't think that at all! I was just cracking jokes with my big brothers!" There was an intensely heavy silence among the five brothers until laughter finally roared from them.

"Man, fuck those Koreans," Osomatsu laughed, and scratched the bottom of his nose.

Their fourth brother heard enough of their racist rant and opened the door to their room. He understood that they were only doing this to make themselves feel better about striking out with the cat food girl despite not knowing what nationality she really was. It was deeply petty of them to take out their frustration on a group of people, but he would have taken part in this if the girl brushed him off as well. Deep down, he knew he was just as bad as they were, and thus he knew that making themselves laugh from such awful jokes would only further hinder them from their chances with any women.

As he quickly tried heading towards his favorite corner, his oldest brother called out to him, "Hey, Rapeymatsu! Still stalking her?"

"What? Rapeymatsu, we told you to leave her alone!" Choromatsu nagged.

Todomatsu scolded, "Don't make it worse for us! You'll make everyone think we're sex offenders!"

"I've already given up," the fourth brother responded as he sat in his corner, lacking any and all emotions. However, he was lying. There was still that cardboard message he left for her, and there was still a chance that she would reply to him tomorrow. This unburnable trash still had some hope left.

The next day was the same routine as all the other days: waiting for her to feed the cats and then leave. Once she was out of sight, he rushed into the alleyway, please to see his friends eating well and the cardboard message board with a new additional message written in glittery purple ink. "Yukibo", it read in katakana.

"'Yukibo'? What a weird name," he commented, but he could not help blushing himself red at the fact that she actually replied to him. It was strange that she responded with only her weird first name, but it was probably because she was a foreigner. Underneath her name, she asked, "Your name?" which made his heart beat faster. He took a deep nervous gulp before replying. Using a working pen he brought from home, he replied, "Matsuno Ichimatsu. Can we mee-" and then scratched the last sentence he wrote. That was way too bold for him to ask of her. Even if she did want to meet him in person, he would not know what to say to her. Thinking the worst, he assumed he would only gawk at her, which in turn would scare her away. But still, he needed to say something to her, to keep her coming back and replying to him on this makeshift message board. "Thank you for-" he scratched it off again, remembering that he already thanked her last time and repeating himself would make him seem dull. So much pressure built within him from trying to respond to this girl, and it was starting to affect his bowels. However, he refused to leave until he responded to her, and so he replied, "Do you like cats?" before bolting out of the alleyway and into the closest bathroom. It was the stupidest question he could ever ask, but he was too occupied in the bathroom to fix it. He could only hope that she did not find him as stupid unburnable trash.

The next day was the same, only when she left the alley, she paused just at the entrance to look around. Again, she repeated her cute habit of pulling her hair behind her right ear as she searched. It seemed like she was looking for him, but still Ichimatsu remained frozen in place, too afraid to approach her or to even move unless she disappeared. She did not stay long to search, and so she quickly left the area, allowing him to enter the alley. There was another addition to the board, responding with, "Of course! Don't be so shy. Let's meet properly tomorrow!" There was even a cute little drawing of a happy face right next to her message which made him laugh. He felt like a school girl after gaining the attention of a boy she liked. There was a sense of thrill and joy that emanated from him, knowing that she wanted to meet him, but his insecurities were not as convinced as he was.

"What am I doing?" he asked himself, "I'm just wasting her time. Why would she make time for trash like me?"

He responded, "Let's stay like this," and walked away feeling like he failed, though it was all his fault. Deep down he really wanted to meet her in person, but he was just so terrified of scaring her away or being rejected by her. There was some control he had leaving dumpster messages with her, but only god knew what would happen if they were to meet in person properly. She was not like his cats, who would always come to him if he had food. Anything he did could make her run from him, and that was a risk he did not want to take. At least with leaving messages, he could still see her, even if it was from a distance.

Again, the next day began the same as all the previous days. This time, she left the alley abruptly, which worried him. Perhaps she was upset from the message he left her yesterday. In a panic, he raced into the alley to see if she left a response, and there was a new addition to the board.

"Surprise!" she wrote, puzzling him at first but when he turned, he saw the silhouette of the girl approaching him in the alley. Frozen in place like he was when he watched her for more than a week, his stomach started to churn, intensifying the closer she got. On the outside, he maintained his apathetic dead look, but from within he was screaming as loud as he could, hopelessly terrified.

"Hi," she greeted, still holding the bag of cat chow.

His pathetic self could not even hold eye contact with her, let alone even have his face pointed towards her. His mind said "hi" back, but what came out of his mouth was, "I didn't want to meet you." It always surprised him how much more he could hate himself from the last time.

She was taken aback by the remark. After pulling her hair over her right ear, she bowed, "I'm sorry. I thought you were just shy. I shouldn't have been so rude."

There was no reason for her to apologize. After all, he was the one that was being difficult. However, no words came from him in response. He just stood looming over her with his apathetic yet threatening stare.

"Your cats are very cute and sweet," she mentioned, unfazed by his demeanor, "Strays don't easily warm up to strangers, but they were so loving when I met them."

"Why have you been feeding them? That's my responsibility," he almost spat, and then kicked himself for letting all that come out so wrong. He only meant to ask why she took it upon herself to feed them, but his horrid attitude twisted it to such malice.

She gasped, "I didn't mean to intrude. I was just walking by, and I heard them crying. They were very hungry, and I couldn't let them go hungry. I'm sorry." She bowed repeatedly again.

Ichimatsu felt terrible. Venom just naturally poured from his mouth as a result of years of being alone. To protect himself, he would naturally shut others out, but this was someone he wanted in. His instinctual defense system would not let him, but he did not want her to hate him. His mind begged him to apologize, but it would not escape his lips. From the bottom of his heart, he begged that she would still stay.

She extended her arms, offering him the cat food, "Please take this. I won't bother you anymore."

The unburnable trash stayed motionless, refusing to accept it. He wanted her to keep coming back and to see her every single day. Though his face was still emotionless, his hands were tightly clenched, internally begging himself to say something to her. Alas, nothing came out. Seeing that he would not accept the cat food from her, she placed it on the ground by his feet. She bowed out of politeness once more, and apologized again before turning to leave. Still frozen in place, he watched her walk away, and the further she was from him, the more his mind screamed "wait" repeatedly. It grew louder and louder in his mind until it finally gained physical presence and surged out of him like an explosion.

"WAIT!" he screamed with his eyes shut. It echoed so loud within the walls of the alley that anyone walking by could hear his voice. When he opened his eyes, she had stop and looked back at him. The look of intent emanated from him as he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to say something to her. His mouth opened, but no sound came, and closed it again. She was carefully watching him without expression as he continued screaming silently at her. Suddenly, she started walking back to him, and he stared in disbelief. Did she actually understand him?

She stood in front of him once more, and they looked in each other's eyes. This time he could not look away. Again and again, his inner voice begged her to stay so he could stare at her just a little longer. A sudden sweet smile curled back on her cute face. "Let's go have some tea together, Matsuno," she spoke up. Was she a mind reader, like his friend ESP kitty? Regardless, never had he felt so thankful to have found someone who could see right through him and understand what he truly wanted, despite being so cold towards her earlier. He responded with a single nod and an affirming grunt, and they happily exited the alley together, not saying another word.

The two sat across from each other at an outdoor table by the café with their green tea in a paper cup. The unburnable trash never imagined getting this far with a girl this pretty, and so had no knowledge on what to say or what to talk about. Playing it as safe as he could, he stayed quiet, staring at his drink and occasionally stealing glances at the girl in front of him.

"Do you go to school?" she asked, trying to spark a conversation.

"No," he bluntly answered, unable to elaborate further.

"Oh, uh, how about work?" she asked again.

Realizing where this was going, he was hesitant to reveal himself as a NEET in front of her. It was bad enough that he had been stalking her all this time, and now she was going to be officially disgusted with him from learning that he had absolutely no redeeming qualities. "No," he bluntly yet truthfully answered.

"Oh," she responded, tucking her hair behind her right ear and allowing a long pause afterwards. And like that, Ichimatsu felt that his conversation had come to a close after such a short discussion. This really was a waste of time, and he felt awful for putting her through this.

"I'm studying medicine at Keio University. I still don't know whether I want to be a doctor for humans or for animals. I really like animals," she talked, knowing that she probably would not receive more than one word responses from him. He was shocked that she was still talking to him, and was deeply impressed with her aspirations. A medical student was giving him her time, which made him feel even more unworthy of her. "It's very hard, but I'm trying my very best. Coming to Japan as an exchange student was very scary for me at first, but the country is so beautiful, convenient, and polite! I feel relaxed being here," she elaborated.

So she really was a foreigner, he realized. "Are you Korean?" he asked, remembering the terrible things his brothers said the other day.

She laughed, "No, I'm Japanese, but from America. Sorry about my Japanese. I know it must be difficult to understand my accent."

"Not at all. Your Japanese is quite good," he managed to reply fluidly. Surprisingly, he was growing more confident with himself the more she talked. Now he was actually able to hold a conversation with her. She was smiling a lot, which made him feel very comfortable with her. It seemed like she was actually enjoying herself in his company even though she was the one doing most of the talking.

"I've only been here for a few weeks. I still haven't made any friends. The other students are so focused with school and studying. They don't have time to interact with me, but I think it's because they don't want to associate with me. I guess they're afraid of making conversation with a foreigner," she mentioned. There it was again, but this time loneliness had targeted another person so undeserving of such cruelty from others. Because of something as small as her accent, it warranted a social shunning, even though she did not have the face of a foreigner. He felt her pain, and thus he felt closer to her.

To lighten the mood, she mentioned, "I still want to explore Japan and maybe learn a little more about where my family came from."

"I could show you around," he replied, suddenly realizing what he just said. He had never left the Tokyo prefecture, and to make matters worse, he had never even fully explored the metropolitan heart of Tokyo as well. There was no way he could offer himself as a tour guide when he probably knew as much about Japan as she did.

"Really?" she replied with her dark eyes brightening.

"Uh, probably not. I'm not a reliable tour guide," he answered in monotone, looking away from her. He felt awful from getting her hopes up just to crush them in the next dialogue. However, when he glanced back at her, she was still smiling.

"That just makes it more fun," she replied. Her optimism was so contagious that he actually felt hopeful towards exploring Japan with her. Every single negative response he made was completely overtaken by her sheer optimism and understanding, but there was no reason for her to respond this way towards someone she just met in an alley. It made absolutely no sense why she was being so nice to him after everything he said to her.

"Why would you want to spend any more time with me?" he asked, "I'm just human trash."

The sudden question stunned her, forcing her back on her habit of tucking her hair behind her right ear. She exclaimed, "I don't think that at all! When I looked into your eyes, you seemed like you really needed someone."

It suddenly clicked; it was out of pity, and even pity was too good for him. He groaned, knowing her pity would eventually dry up, and she would easily leave him behind afterwards. To save himself the trouble and the pain, he sneered, "Tch, you don't know anything about me. I don't need your pity! I've been fine on my own."

"It's not pity, you dummy! I'm here all by myself. My family is back home in the States, and I haven't made a single friend. I'm all alone," she revealed, "I just saw me when I saw you. It made me want to know you."

Stunned by her outburst, he fell silent, never realizing that someone like her could feel like him. It was almost ironic; he had spent more than a week believing he could not meet her expectations, but here she was, trying to meet his. Was she so alone that she was desperate enough to seek the company of an unburnable trash? It was so asinine, especially when she was just brimming with smiles and kindness. She was cast out of their society, just like he was, and like the cats were as well. Like him and his animal friends, she was also a stray.

"I'm sorry," he spoke, "I'll explore Japan with you." Even though he lacked the money to travel allover Japan, he wanted to lift her spirits up.

She was back to smiling again, "Thank you, Matsuno!"

"Ichimatsu is fine," he mentioned. Matsuno could also mean anyone of his five brothers. He wanted to hear her say his name.

"Ichimatsu," she corrected. A warm sensation overtook his body when he heard her say his name. Finally, after all these years, he had connected to someone, and this person genuinely liked him. Still, he felt so undeserving, but for the moment, he was happy. For the rest of their conversation, he was participating more than he ever had in so long. Never had he been able to open up and talk from his heart as easily as he had before.

"Yukibo is a very… interesting name," he brought up.

She laughed, "My friend picked that name. She comes from a Chinese family and decided that my Asian name would be 'You Xiwang'." She wrote down the actual characters for it, and Ichimatsu recognized the last two meaning "hope". "The whole thing literally means 'to have hope'. I just used Google translate to convert it into Japanese, and I got 'Yukibo'. I'm such a foreigner," she added, blushing.

"I think it's cute," he commented blushing as well.

"Really? It's not too weird?" she asked.

He shook his head, and replied, "I like weird. So, what's your full name?"

"Matsumoto Yukibo," she answered.

"Huh? Matsumoto?" he reacted, stunned that he just could not escape the word "Matsu".

She nodded and laughed which was contagious enough to make him chuckle. "I thought the same thing when you wrote your name down. And it's the same character, too!" she beamed. Ichimatsu never had this much fun with another person before. The feeling was refreshing as if he was becoming a new person. Even his insecurities stopped nagging at him so frequently as he learned to just accept the fact that she was just a kind and understanding individual. There was no one else he wanted to be with other than her.

"Oh, if you don't mind me asking," she brought up, "Those other guys with you when we first met, they all had your face. Are you part of some set of… um…" She then pulled a computerized translator out from her bag.

Immediately, he knew what word she was looking for, and it definitely was not a common word for everyday conversations. He spoke up, "Sextuplet. I'm the fourth brother."

"Mu-tsu-go," she sounded out, and grinned, "I learned a new word today. But wow, that's really amazing. Do you guys get along?"

Almost out of nowhere, he laughed maniacally for a full minute, hinting to her that they obviously did not. He and his brothers were at each others' throats ever since they were kids. Even when they got along and were hive minded into being five other Osomatsus, they still did not really like each other. Once his laughs faded, he answered with a deadpan look on his face, "No, not really." This was a crucial reminder for him to keep her a secret from his brothers. It was great that they had already forgotten about her, and he wanted it to stay that way. Like Todomatsu was with his female coworkers, he would have to stave off his brothers from her, and save her from their idiocy. The last thing he wanted was for them to scare her away out of jealousy.

"Even though you're a sextuplet, I bet I can tell you apart from your brothers with ease!" she claimed.

"Oh? Is that so?" he replied, wanting to challenge her, but that would also mean that his brothers would meet her, which he wanted to avoid altogether.

She nodded enthusiastically, "I want to meet them properly someday. One of your brothers tried to talk to me, but I was really busy that day. I hope he doesn't think I'm mean or anything."

Internally, he commended her for making the best call. Osomatsu was a very persistent and "grabby" individual. If he was given even one more minute of her time, he would have been all over her physically. His eldest brother was absolutely awful with women.

"Don't mind him," he spat, "He's…" From the bottom of his heart, he could not think of more proper words other than "shit".

"Forgiving?" she asked.

He paused, then lied, "Sure."

Without knowing how quickly time flew by, they continued having the most pleasant conversation they have had in a while, so much so that both of their teas went untouched and got cold. They talked mostly about the food they wanted to try and places they planned on visiting in Japan. It was exciting them so much that they almost convinced themselves to set off right then and there.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, looking at her watch, "I took up so much of your time!"

"Please take more," he responded with a smile.

It made her laugh and she replied, "I better get back home. Can we get lunch tomorrow? After lunch for the cats?"

"L-l-lunch?" he blushed heavily, surprised that she was bold enough to ask him out, "Y-yeah! Where?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. You pick!" and then gathered her things except the cat food.

"Wait, I don't really know-" he tried to speak up, but she interrupted.

"Anything! I love any and all Japanese food. Show me a place you like," she told him, "You can keep the cat food. I have another bag at home in case you run out." Surprised by her generosity, he graciously thanked her. Finally, he could feed his friends after so long. She pulled out her phone, and said to him, "Let's exchange numbers!"

He paused and then hesitantly told her, "I don't have a phone."

Still keeping her smile while pulling her hair back over her right ear, she put her phone away and pulled out a cute little notepad instead. She wrote down her number and passed it to him. "Don't be too shy to call me. If I don't answer, then don't get discouraged. I'll definitely call you right back!" she grinned. Shakily in his hands, he stared at her phone number, and then back at her. How was she so understanding?

"U-uh," he muttered.

"Alright! I'll meet you tomorrow at our spot! See ya!" she said as she left.

Still in disbelief over the day he had, he melted at the sight of her waving at him. It was impossible to ignore how cute she was to him, but it was more impossible to ignore the fact that he had a date with her tomorrow. The stars had aligned for him, and this unburnable trash was ignited for a different reason: he actually had a date with a really cute girl. For once, he was a step ahead of all of his brothers. But that was going to be his little secret. There was no way his brothers would let him have this.


	3. Chapter 3

After finishing breakfast, five of the sextuplets fell back into their typical daily routine: Osomatsu pulled out a _manga_ that he was almost done reading, Karamatsu plucked at his guitar for inspiration, Choromatsu tirelessly updated his resume`, Todomatsu texted on his phone, and Jyushimatsu hung from the ceiling like he was Spiderman. Ichimatsu, sitting on the floor with a cat in his arms, felt that now was the perfect time to call Yukibo. As a man, he should show her that he had an interest in her by calling her the next day. However, he did recall hearing somewhere that this may seem desperate. Who was he kidding? Of course, he was desperate.

His brothers were too occupied with their hobbies and would not think twice about him stepping out for a moment. He had kept the number safe in his clothes and tucked in his hands, and so far, none of his brothers caught wind of it. Finally, it was all going to pay off once he called her and heard her sweet voice again. Calmly, he rose to his feet, while still holding the cat, and slowly walked towards the door.

"Where are you going, Rapeymatsu?" the eldest asked immediately after his fourth brother touched the door.

Like he scripted, the fourth brother replied, "Toilet." As nothing was gained, the eldest left his younger brother alone, returning his attention to his _manga_.

The apathetic brother slid the door closed behind him, and then quickly tiptoed his way downstairs toward the only phone in the house. There was no time for him to dally; he needed to hastily dial her number and confirm about their date today, all before his brothers could get suspicious of him. He placed his cat down beside him and then nervously picked up the receiver and held it to his ear, quaking at the attempt. The dial tone made him even more anxious, and it was tricking him into believing that maybe it was too early to call her, or that she would not even answer him. Despite this, remembering her kindness gave him the strength he needed to continue. He fished for the little note in his pockets, and noticed that it got a little damp from being in his clammy hands for all of last night. When he opened up the folded note, her numbers were smeared, and what was once legible purple numbers became purple blots. Ichimatsu panicked, and studied the ruined, wet note. He was determined, possibly more deluded, that it was still somewhat readable. It was so smudged that it was difficult to tell a four from a nine, and a five from a three. Like a cruel joke from God, her number only consisted of nines, fours, fives, and threes. There was no other choice for him; he had to take a chance and guess her number.

After dialing a number, a woman answered on the other end, but it was not Yukibo. She greeted, "Thank you for calling Akatsuka's Sex Hotline, making all your wildest fantasies come true." She was an automated voice, and so he quickly hung up afterwards. The old him would have remembered the number to call later at a more private moment, but right now there was a girl he was trying to impress.

Though deeply embarrassed from his mistake, he still continued to try to call Yukibo. The next number he dialed had a man answer on the other end. "Hello? This is Akatsuka's Addicts Anonymous," he greeted, "Are you suffering from an addiction?"

"Damn it," Ichimatsu cursed internally before speaking over the phone, "S-sorry, wrong number." This was humiliating for him, but he had to call back the woman he liked.

He dialed once more, but an automated male's voice answered, "You've reached the Akatsuka's Suicide Talk Center. Please hold for the next available representative." Immediately, he slammed the phone back down. Expression was lost on him, as he reminded himself that he was not going to go through that again.

Still persistent, he picked up the dial once more, determined to call her. "Rapeymatsu? Are you down there?" Choromatsu called out, showing up too quickly for his younger brother to react. The older brother watched him slam the receiver down and then stuff a note in his mouth, chewing it senseless. "Are you okay?" he asked while staring at him suspiciously.

Distraught, upset, and furious, the dark brother glared at him, creeping his older brother out. The number was lost forever, and because he could not call her, Yukibo would start to think that he had no interest in her. He would never forgive his older brother for making him eat her number. "You're annoying me," he snapped, storming away from the third sextuplet. Choromatsu was frozen stiff until his younger brother was out of sight, and reminded himself again for the hundredth time to never cross him.

With the phone number lost and his memory on par with a goldfish, all the dark sextuplet could do was get himself ready for that lunch date he promised her. He looked at his clothes; he was wearing the same purple sweatshirt and navy-blue sweatpants that he had worn the past week. Even though they were clean, if he went out like this, then she would probably think he was not taking her seriously. His brothers were still in his room, and they would get suspicious of him if he was rummaging through their closet. The only place left with clothes was the laundry, and luckily, his mother just finished a load this morning.

Neatly folded clothes were piled in the laundry basket. All of them were his brothers' clothes, since he would usually wear the same thing every day regardless if they were clean or not. He searched through them, trying to pick out something that would impress her. Totty's clothes were too effeminate, Fappymatsu's clothes were too uptight, Osomatsu's clothes were too casual, and Jyushimatsu's clothes were too sporty. Shittymatsu's leather jacket and acid-washed jeans were pretty cool in his eyes, despite always making fun of him for wearing it. However, he groaned knowing that getting caught wearing these again would invite a never-ending bombardment of ridicule from his brothers. That was a risk he was willing to take if it meant having a girlfriend. With clothes in hand and boots to match, he needed a place to store them so he could smuggle them out of the house and change into them in the alley. Suddenly, he came up with an ingenious idea for once in his unoccupied brain to store it in the cat food Yukibo gave him. However, the clothes would probably reek of cat food if he stored them directly. Thus, he stuffed them in a trash bag and then stored it in the bag of cat food. It was perfect, and his brothers would be none the wiser.

After using the toilet to expel all the nervous turds out of him, he noticed his second brother's comb sitting on the sink. He took a good look at himself in the mirror and realized that it had been years since he combed his hair. If he combed it now, it would raise suspicion, and so he stuffed the comb in his sweatshirt. Once he left the bathroom, he picked up the bag of premium cat food and started heading towards the front door.

"Wait, Rapeymatsu! Did Choromatsu tell you to pick up some snacks?" Osomatsu called out, chasing him down the stairs. The fourth brother quickened his pace and left through the front door before his brother could catch up to him. "Damn, just missed him!" he huffed, then went back upstairs to his room. The eldest brother rained the five one-thousand-yen bills onto his third brother and told him, "It's up to you now, Fappymatsu. Go buy our snacks."

"Why me? I need to refine my resume`!" the younger brother argued.

"You couldn't get Ichimatsu to do it, so now the responsibility falls on you. Thanks a bunch!" the eldest brother replied cheerfully as he went straight back into his _manga_. The third brother had no choice but to just do it.

Ichimatsu finally arrived at the entrance of the alleyway, much earlier than lunch time. While feeding the cats, he could quickly change into his second brother's outfit so that he would be somewhat presentable in his very first date with an actual girl. It had been too long since he fed his friends, but the familiar feeling of stopping by with a bag of food and having them come up to his feet was especially relieving. After refilling their empty food bowls, he started changing into Shittymatsu's ridiculous yet stylish outfit, while the cats ate. The clothes fit him perfectly, but that came with being physically identical to his second brother. He stuffed his own clothes into the trash bag and tucked it back inside the bag of cat food, leaving it by the dumpster for now. After his date, he would come back for it and change back into his clothes before heading home. Every step had to be planned out in order to keep Yukibo away from the rest of his brothers.

Ichimatsu meticulously fixed his hair with his fingers and his brother's comb. This was the first time in a long time he had combed his hair neatly, and though it was still a little messy due to years of neglect, it was an improvement, maybe even stylish with the rest of the bad boy look. As he was exiting the alley, he pondered on where to take her for lunch. His first and only duty as a man on this date was already proving to be too difficult for him. It was rare for him to eat out, and whenever he did, it was with his brothers at Chibita's _oden_ stand or the local pub. A classy girl like Yukibo would frown upon him bringing her to such substandard establishments, but there really was no other restaurants he knew about. A sudden thought came across him and he quickly checked his wallet, groaning at the horrid sight of just having a single thousand-yen bill and a few coins. It was so humiliating for him to be this poor when he wanted to show this girl how much he really liked her. He really needed to come up with a solution quickly. Maybe there was a kid he could mug somewhere.

He waited by the alley's entrance, still thinking about where to take her. Regardless of if he brought her somewhere affordable or if he brought her somewhere he could not afford, she would end up seeing him as an impoverished man. If he just had a little bit more money, he could possibly pull through on his date.

"Ichimatsu?" a familiar voice called out, about to burst out laughing, "Are you wearing Karamatsu's clothes again?"

The third brother's voice startled him, and out of panic he replied, "W-what are you talking about, _burazaa_? I am Karamatsu!" From the look on his brother's face, it was clear that he was not buying it. The humiliation the younger brother felt now was on par with the humiliation he would feel during his date if he ended up picking the wrong place.

His older brother burst out laughing, "I can't believe you're doing this again! What are you even doing here dressed like that?"

"N-nothing. I just wanted to look cool. Just hurry up and leave," the fourth brother spat as he continuously glanced towards the direction she would typically appear from.

With his laughter dying down, the older brother asked again, "No, seriously, what the hell are yo-" He paused, seeing the familiar girl walking towards them, and the younger brother felt like he could explode from exposing her to his brother. Before Choromatsu could even say anything, the look he witnessed on his younger brother's face silenced him and made his blood run cold throughout his body. It was a look of murder, like how a tiger would look just before swiping the head off its prey. Frozen from fear, there was no way for him to inquire about the cat food girl heading this way.

"Ichimatsu!" Yukibo called out and was surprised to see one of his brothers there with him. The third brother was even more surprised that she was already referring to his younger brother by his first name. More and more suspicion grew as he wondered how long they had known each other to warrant this?

"Hey," the fourth brother waved, unable to hold back on blushing again. Choromatsu's younger brother was blushing heavily from just greeting the cute cat food girl. It was clear that he liked her. Plus, they were both pretty dressed up and happy to see each other. The thought of it was so bizarre; was his brother of darkness on a date?

"You look very cool today," she complemented the fourth brother, making him blush even more. He lost eye contact with her trying to pull himself together from such a complement. She then faced Choromatsu, and tucked her hair over her right ear. With a light bow, she greeted, "It's nice to meet you. My name is Matsumoto Yukibo."

He could still feel the threat of death, pulsing from his younger brother, but he politely responded to her, "Nice to meet you. I'm Matsuno Choromatsu." Even the third brother could not help but to fluster a bit at how cute and polite she was.

"Would you like to join us? We're having lunch," she offered. This came as a shock to Ichimatsu, learning she would let his brother become a third wheel. Perhaps she only meant to ask out of courtesy since they were brothers, but from the look on his third brother's face, he was about to accept.

"N-no! He can't!" he blurted, preventing his brother from answering. He had to come up with an excuse quickly, "He was just about to leave for work." The lie was so blatantly obvious that it was painful, but he needed to get the message across to him that he did not want him around. The older brother seemed to notice. "Can I talk to him in private for just a second?" he asked, glaring holes into his older brother. Almost obliviously, she complied and waited for them outside the alley while the two entered deep inside.

Ichimatsu practically dragged him all the way towards the very end of the alley. His brother almost started to believe he was going to die inside this alley. Once they reached the end, the younger one grabbed the older one by the collar and shook him. The look of murder on the younger brother's face returned, and his older brother could only cower underneath his wrath. "I will kill you. I will _kill_ you, Fappymatsu, if you tell the others about her," he threatened.

"I get it. I won't say a word!" the older brother promised, while his knees quaked beneath him.

"I will treat you worse than I do Shittymatsu. YOU WILL BE THE NEW SHITTYMATSU! I FUCKING SWEAR!" he scolded, clutching the collar tighter as he lifted him of the ground.

"Okay! Okay! I heard you! Please!" his older brother surrendered. The fourth brother released him roughly, throwing him back into the dumpster behind him. How humiliating it was for him to have his stupid, fapping, third brother disgrace her with his presence. But, maybe there was some good that could come from this.

"Give me your money. I have to buy her lunch," he demanded, sticking his hand out towards his brother. The third brother glanced up at him with disbelief that his younger brother was mugging him. Out of fear, he handed the younger brother his wallet, and the dark one took the five thousand yen stored inside. He tossed back the wallet to his brother and walked out without any regard for him in the trash. Yukibo had waited very patiently for him to return and was surprised that his brother had not come out with him.

"Where's your brother?" she asked.

"He's tying his shoes," he lied, and quickly changed the subject, "I'm sorry, but I didn't pick a place for us." He really did not want to seem like he was as directionless as he was to her, but this really was out of his capabilities. They were already moving so fast, and it was very difficult for him to keep up with her pace.

She was still smiling as she repeated her hair behind her ear habit. She replied, "Let's walk around a bit then! We'll find something." Despite her fast pace, she was always so accommodating to him. It was like she was holding his hand the entire way and never let go once. With almost the same amount of optimism, he nodded and ventured off with her.

After his younger brother had completely left, Choromatsu gathered enough courage to come out on his own and dusted the trash off of him. Now broke and dirty, all he could do was return home empty handed. In hindsight, he should have bought the snacks before meeting him, but his brotherly instincts kicked in at the worst moment just to make fun of his younger brother. He was still shaking from the threat his little brother had made and was unable to imagine the worst thing he could do to him. However, if it was anything like he had done previously to his other brothers, then he had better keep silent for his own sake.

When he arrived home, Jyushimatsu was the first to react, thinking that his brother came home with snacks. Seeing no grocery bags in his hands, the fifth brother asked, "Where's our snacks, big brother Choromatsu?"

"Um, I… um…" he stammered. He had not come up with an excuse for that yet.

The second brother noticed that he was covered in scuffs and stains, and the look on his face showed that pure, absolute terror. Karamatsu mentioned, "You look like something almost took your life."

"No, no, no! It was nothing at all!" he tried to remedy, and then lied, "I just got mugged by some high school punks. That's why I couldn't buy the snacks! They took my wallet with all our money in it!"

His four brothers stared suspiciously at him, and it was clear that they were not buying his story. Something else must had happened, and they needed to get to the bottom of it. The room fell silent as the four curious sextuplets pondered on what could have happened to their roughed up third brother.

Suddenly, a thought came across the eldest, and he asked, "Did you see Ichimatsu?"

The third brother froze and was perplex as to how his oldest brother was able to jump to his fourth brother so quickly. "N-no! I didn't see him at all! Must've been far inside the alley with his cats. It was way too dark to see inside. It had nothing to do with him at all, so why are you asking?" he rambled, clearly showing that he was lying. All four brothers had dread across their face and stared deadpan at their third brother. They were all thinking the exact same thing; did their brother rape someone? From the look on their faces, they demanded to know where their dark brother was. He then tried to change the subject, "I'll go ask mom for some more money, and then I'll go buy the snacks."

Choromatsu turned back towards the door and was about to leave, but with a slight hand on his shoulder, it was enough to stop him in his place. "Sit down, Fappymatsu," Osomatsu commanded him. The lack of tone was almost on par with the threatening tone the fourth brother had, and so the reasonable brother was forced to sit.

"Where's Rapeymatsu?" the eldest brother asked in a serious tone, up close to his brother's face.

"I-I don't know," he lied. Regardless of how long he was going to play stupid, his brothers would find a way to squeeze information out of him. The terrifying question was to what extent would they push to get that information.

"Are you sure you don't know?" the second brother asked again in the same serious tone and also up close to his face.

He replied trying to remove all emotion from his tone, "I told you, I don't know." Todomatsu had a cocky look on his face as he held his phone. His third brother knew he had something up his sleeves.

"I guess I'll just send Totoko this cute picture of you," the youngest brother smirked, showing a picture of him clearly jerking off, but his back was turned.

"NO! DON'T!" he begged, "WHEN DID YOU EVEN TAKE THAT? HOW DID YOU EVEN TAKE THAT?" His brothers laughed evilly as they waited for his response. The third brother had a choice of either being murdered by his brother of darkness or never facing Totoko again. After weighing his options, he decided that he could survive being murdered by his younger brother for ratting him out. The rat revealed, "He's on a date."

"D-D-DATE?" his second, fifth, and sixth brothers screamed out loudly in absolute disbelief.

However, his oldest brother responded in an eerily calm tone, "Where?"

"That's all I know. He's on a date with the cat food girl. He didn't tell me where," he answered, deeply ashamed of himself. Now he could only prepare himself for the merciless punishment the dark sextuplet would have instore for him.

"Okay then. We'll just wait for him to come home," the eldest brother said casually with a playful smile. However, there was a menacing aura surrounding him that was almost on par with Ichimatsu's aura, and that terrified the third brother as much as what his fourth brother was going to do to him afterwards.

Meanwhile, the new couple were casually walking down the sidewalk together as they searched for a place to eat. They had passed by a multitude of restaurants mostly due to them not speaking up on it. Honestly, this was because Ichimatsu never tried any of the restaurants they had passed, even though he grew up in this small town. It was not normal for him to take charge and choose a random restaurant. That was something his brothers would do for him. He always liked going with the flow of things, but it was mostly because he was afraid of choosing a bad place and ruining his first date with a bad lunch.

"What do you like to eat?" she asked him. The silence they had for almost five minutes was finally broken, and he was forced to respond with something.

"A-anything," he replied vaguely, and then realized that his answer did not answer anything. He was only vague from just trying to be unassuming, since all he wanted to do today was impress her.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and chuckled, "Me too!" Seeing that she was still being kind and a little playful about his vagueness relieved him a bit, but deciding on where to eat was still an issue. Suddenly, the girl gasped as she peered inside a sushi restaurant with a revolving conveyer belt delivering assorted sushi pieces to customers. "I've always wanted to go to one of these!" she spoke out, "Do you want to eat here?"

Honestly, he had never even noticed a restaurant like this was in his town, and after glancing at the menu, he felt that it was within his price range. This was not the kind of restaurant he had in mind for his very first date with an actual girl. There was no way he could share a drink with her with a heart-shaped couple's straw in a sushi joint, but he loved sushi and had not had it in a long while. Excited to eat, he nodded towards her, and the couple entered the restaurant before receiving a robust " _irashai_ " from the chefs behind the belt. They were seated immediately and stared at the pricing of each plate. The different colored plates were matched to different prices, and the plates could be deposited into a slot which played a game. After five plates were put in the slot, the player would be given a chance at fighting a boss in the game and defeating the boss would award them with a _gachapon_.

"I hope we win!" she said with glee.

He replied, "I'm not really good luck. I hope you don't get too disappointed."

She laughed for a bit, before assuring him, "I think we'll win, even if we have to eat one hundred plates!"

He tensed up at the thought. However, the plates were cheap, ranging from a hundred yen to five hundred yen, but he was worried that he would end up not having enough to pay for her.

"Let's eat!" she said cheerfully as she pulled plates from the conveyer belt.

"Mm. Let's eat," he followed.

Yukibo was eating well, even the raw oysters from their shells. She really was not kidding when she said she liked to eat anything. Ichimatsu was absolutely captivated by the way she ate, so much so that he had not even touched his plate, almost forgetting it was there. On her own, she already had eaten five plates and dropped them in the slot. The boss arose within the screen and their character fought valiantly against the monster, but failed. The first five plates were not the winning set, but she was still determined.

As the girl grabbed another plate, she looked at him and noticed that he was still on his first plate. "Did you already eat?" she asked.

"No, I'm just a slow eater," he lied, secretly trying to eat less so he would have enough to pay for her. Trying to prove himself visually, he took a bite of one of the rolls and chewed slowly.

"Mm! This is so good!" she told him, "Try this yellowtail!" She offered it to him with the chopsticks she was using.

Ichimatsu was surprised by this gesture, "Does she want to share chopsticks with me already?" She was almost too bold for him, but this was his chance for an indirect kiss. When he ate from it, and felt the wood that also touched her lips, it felt like his lips were in contact with hers despite having a wooden intermediate. Feeling steamy from the exchange, he pressed his legs tightly together to hide the slight chub he developed. "So good," he responded, blushing, more so about the chopsticks than the sushi.

"I was expecting you to use a plate," she laughed, "I'm sure your mouth is clean."

He kicked himself for being too bold. Honestly, he was just so comfortable around her that he was able to build that much audacity. However, she did not seem that irked by his action.

"I brushed my teeth very thoroughly today. Just for our date," he promised.

"What? Date?" she responded with a puzzled look on her face.

The unburnable trash fell silent, and felt his whole world fall apart over a clear misunderstanding. Only now had he realized that she never confirmed to him that she liked him or that they were going on a date. The only time he let his guard down out of overexcitement and desperation had caused him to jump to such a conclusion that she wanted to date him. Humiliated, he could only wait to hear her either laugh, mock, or reject him.

"It seems like you were a step ahead of me," she laughed, shocking him, "I didn't know you felt that way towards me. I guess I really don't know you at all, huh, Ichimatsu?"

This had to be a dream, he thought. It made absolutely no sense for a girl like her to settle for a man like him, but it was not a dream at all. No matter what he did or how he acted, she was still being nice to him, and perhaps this was the sign he had been looking for. Had he finally found someone that was willing to put up with him? This was his one and only moment to finally seize something for himself instead of just letting himself go with the flow. If he failed to speak up and tell her how he really felt, then he could miss her. He felt so nervous, so out of his comfort zone that he wanted to shut everything out, but there was just no room for him to wall-up again.

"I like you," he blurted out, with his eyes shut. When he opened them back up, he saw that she was blushing almost as much as he was. It did not seem like she was going to turn him down, and so he added, "I want you to be my girlfriend." It was loud enough for almost the entire restaurant to hear, and the chefs and some of the patrons turned to watch the commotion. He did not like being put on the spot like this, but this was something he really wanted.

With a genuine smile, she replied softly while tucking her hair behind her right ear, "I like you, too. Of course, I'll go out with you." He remained stunned, while the chefs and the other patrons smiled and awed like they were watching a live drama. The feeling of acceptance was so foreign to him, but for the moment, it made him feel really good. However, his insecurities crept in the back of his mind, doubtful towards her reasoning. Rather than being settled, his mind raised more questions, specifically drawing from all the unanswered questions he had prior: _why_ was she so nice to him, and _why_ did she like him back? It still made absolutely no sense to him.

"Ichimatsu?" she called out, wanting him to reply after confessing to him.

"Why?" he asked, "I'm not a student, nor employed, nor do I have any aspirations. I have no future and I will only bring you down. You're better off without me." It was a rotten choice of words, but they were honest. This was who he was, and if she really liked him, then she should know and tolerate the real him.

"Ichimatsu," she spoke up, almost sternly. She looked directly into his eyes with an authoritative stare that he had not seen her do before. It made him so nervous that he could not maintain eye contact. She told him, "I'd like to see you try to bring me down. I'll be the one raising you up."

Shocked from her response, he asked himself, "Is she serious?" Even the eavesdropping chefs and patrons were stunned at her bold statement. There was no reason for a girl like her to make time for trash like him. The confusion from this exchange forced him to just laugh in response, "I don't get you at all, Yukibo."

"Doesn't that make you want to spend more time with me? Don't you want to understand me?" she teased and smiled playfully.

"Mm," he nodded.

"See? That's why I like you. You say you have no aspiration but you're aspiring to learn more about me. You're willing to try to make a difference no matter how small," she revealed, "I know you don't have a lot of confidence in yourself. I know you feel like no one wants to be around you. But, I want you to know that you deserved to be loved, too! I really like you, Ichimatsu."

His face reddened even more as he tried to hold back his tears. Staying quiet, he thought to himself, "Do I actually deserve this?" This was so foreign to him and much heavier than anything he had ever felt before. It was driving him insane and churning his bowels around.

She smiled lovingly, "I'm sorry I didn't realize this sooner. Are you embarrassed?"

"A little," he answered, "But I'm… happy."

Her hand moved towards the center of the table between them and beckoned for his hand. She looked up to him and asked, "It's not too inappropriate, is it?"

His body felt like it was on fire as he reached down to meet with her hand. When their fingers entwined, he felt his heart beating in sync with her as if he was connected to her. It was the most satisfying feeling of support and care he had ever felt, and he never wanted to lose this. However, despite just acknowledging this, the pressure that built in his bowels did not agree.

"I… have to use the bathroom," he told her after a minute. She pulled away and nodded, letting him go into the public restroom. Once he was inside one of the stalls, he screamed loudly for joy. "She likes me!" he yelled out, "This trash has a girlfriend!"

After expelling the nervous turds that should have been expelled this morning, he returned to her. She had just dropped in the tenth plate into the slot, but she still lost. She huffed, "Next one will win! I'm sure of it! But, I'm getting full."

Even though they were only ten plates in, she had eaten most of those plates. The look on her face showed that she really wanted to win a prize, and that gave him enough motivation to win it for her, even if it meant he had to eat the hundred plates himself. The couple grabbed another five plates and nodded towards each other with determination. After eating every piece and sliding in the five plates, their little character defeated the boss and won a prize for them. The red _gachapon_ rolled down from the machine, and Ichimatsu reached up to grab it and handed it to her. When she opened it, excitement filled her as she pulled out a black and purple, checkered-patterned cat keychain.

"So cute!" she squealed, "Thank you so much, Ichimatsu!"

He scratched the back of his head, "It was nothing."

"What should his name be?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied. He still was not good at these kinds of things.

"How about 'Ichimatsumoyo'," she suggested, "since he's checkered, and you won him for me?"

"She's so cute. I think I could die," he thought, but said, "That works."

When he received the check, he saw that he was short about another thousand yen. He did not realize how much those expensive plates stacked in price, and now knowing he did not have enough to pay made his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. Sweating from being trapped by a mere check, he was worried that she was going to see him as _broke_ unburnable trash. Despite him having a near panic attack from a check, Yukibo took the bill from him and dropped her card inside. This shocked him, and made him wonder if she caught on that he was broke.

"W-wait! I can pay," he lied, trying to save some face.

The waitress already took the check by then, and Yukibo still had that kind and understanding smile on her face, "Nonsense. Don't worry about it!" It was unclear if she knew he was broke or not, but she really was too good for him, living up to the meaning of her name.

In awe and overly grateful, he replied, "Thank you. I'll get the next one for sure."

After lunch, he walked with her towards the nearest subway station, which was the closest to walking her home as he could achieve. She had her arm around his throughout the entire walk, and it made him feel accomplished for once in his life. It felt so new, but so good to have a woman on his arm. Once they reached a subway station, she gave him a deep hug before boarding. She felt so soft and fragile when he felt her feminine physique under his arms and her silky black hair between his fingers. Hugging her was so much better than just having her arm in his. Her feel, her scent, her warmth just made him feel complete, and he could not wait for their relationship to step into the perverted stage.

Their next date would have to be a week from now, since she had to study for an upcoming exam. Though saddened, he wished her the best of luck on her exam, and could not wait to see her again. The feeling of her soft body and the kind, loving words she gave him was enough to help him survive a week without her.

Before returning home, he went back into the alley to change back into his usual attire. After finally achieving a girlfriend, there was no way he would let any of his brothers catch wind of what happened today. When he arrived home, his brothers were waiting for him up in their room. The moment he opened the door, they glared at him with an evil smile. Choromatsu was the only one who could not look at him, and he knew deep down that his _raizingu_ , fap-crazed brother had spilled the beans on him. Through sheer instinct, the fourth brother turned back around, shut the door behind him, and bolted out of the house. He reacted so quickly that he could not even grab his shoes and just ran outside barefoot.

"Rapeymatsu!" the four crazed brothers called out in a singsong tone as they chased after him. They were chasing him at an inhuman pace, almost as if they were beasts. The no-longer-single brother tried to knock down whatever he could find in his path to slow his brothers down, but they were unfazed by the obstacles and closed in on him rapidly. He leaped borders into his neighbors' yards and even hopped over from building to building, but they were still hot on his tail. Suddenly, he stepped on a sharp pebble which caused him to collapse in pain, and all four brothers piled on him. Like hunters after catching a large game, they dragged him back home by his two feet, and his clothes and skin were being scraped along the pavement. It was only a matter of time before his brothers caught him, but he promised himself to say nothing, no matter how much pain they put him through.

Back in the confines of their room, he was held in one of Jyushimatsu's worst submission holds, tighter and more painful than most brothers could handle. The pain was apparent in his face, but his resilience would not let him speak.

"How did your date go, Rapeymatsu?" the eldest asked, "Dating before your older brother, you must be so proud of yourself." The fourth brother said nothing, but yelped when his younger brother pulled tighter.

"Say something, Ichimatsu!" Choromatsu begged.

"Shut the fuck up, traitor!" he snapped, silencing his third brother.

"You got rejected, didn't you? She couldn't deal with your shitty attitude, right?" Osomatsu mocked, "Well, what can you do?" The fourth brother used every fiber of his willpower to stay quiet, but his oldest brother continued to mock him, "Korean girls, right?"

"She's American!" he blurted out, then gasped when he realized what he did.

The rest of his brothers were surprised. The idea that an Asian looking girl being American never came across them. They imagined an American woman to be a tall, busty blonde, but the cat food girl was so different from that.

"An American? But she doesn't look like one at all," Todomatsu commented.

"Heh," Karamatsu laughed, "She doesn't have the boobs to be American." Yukibo had a gorgeous, curvaceous body, though hidden underneath her long skirt and thick sweater. However, their idea of an American woman was even more voluptuous than that.

The jig was up for Ichimatsu. At this point, he might as well make his brothers jealous, and he had the best opportunity for it. He lied, "She has great boobs. They're so soft and warm."

His statement sent shivers down their spine. "YOU WENT TO SECOND BASE?" they all yelled out.

"Second? Oh, no," he replied with a devilish grin, "Jyushimatsu, what do my fingers smell like?"

The fifth brother sniffed his right hand, which he used to eat sushi. He commented, "Smells like fish." The hyper brother and the rest of the girlfriendless brothers screamed while grabbing their heads and shaking them all around. The dark brother was freed, and just watched in glee as the rest of his brothers were rolling on the floor in jealousy. Despite enjoying this, he sighed, knowing it was all a lie just to mess with them.

" _Maasutaa_ , please teach me," the second brother begged on his knees and clawed at his younger brother's clothes. The other brothers also followed, begging him to teach them how to get that far on the first date.

"I lied," Ichimatsu spouted, stretching his shoulders and legs from being in that hold.

"B-but the fish smell on your fingers," Todomatsu mentioned.

"We had sushi together," he explained.

His five brothers sighed in relief, knowing that they were not completely far behind their antisocial brother. However, they resented him for getting their goat.

"Wow, an American exchange student. Think of all the money she spent to study abroad in Japan," Todomatsu imagined.

"Lucky you, Ichimatsu. You landed yourself a rich, American girl," Osomatsu teased, "Are you going to become a western princess?"

"Tch, I could still be a NEET then," Ichimatsu said jokingly.

"NEET LIFE!" Jyushimatsu cheered.

"Maybe I, too, will capture the heart of a rich girl and then live the rest of my life off her money," Karamatsu aspired.

Annoyed from the second brother's comment, Choromatsu responded, "Ugh, you sound so shitty."

"Oh, big brother Choromatsu, I still owe you something," the fourth brother remembered, and walked towards his third brother menacingly. The traitorous brother cowered in fear, knowing this was a long time coming.


	4. Chapter 4

A week would be too long to go without her, and so the unburnable trash made it his mission to learn basic English to impress the girl he liked. At every encounter, Yukibo showed him time and time again how caring she was, and he had nothing that even held a candle to it. This was not going to be an easy feat for a guy in his late-twenties, because though anyone can learn any language at any age, he was not "anyone". He was a nobody, and thus he must attempt to break from his NEET lifestyle for this week, and educate himself in a foreign language. The fantasy of seeing her again, speaking English to her, and watching her fluster at his dedication filled him with excitement. It had been way too long since he felt this excited about something.

Browsing at the bookstore he and his brothers would frequently visit for their usual mind rotting literature, he stopped in front of the English textbook and study guide section. It was the first time he had ever been to this part of the store, and he felt intimidated by the sheer thickness of the books and its unreadable English contents from within. In hindsight, he really wished he paid more attention to English in high school, but high school in itself was a difficult and cruel experience. He was barely lucky enough to make it this far in his life. There was a beginner's workbook that looked easy enough and was cheap as well. The intermediate level was right next to it, and so he also picked that one up, believing he could quickly breeze through the beginner's hello-my-name-is-so-and-so lessons. On his way towards the counter, he passed by a familiar section of which he and his brothers would always linger: the adult section. All of their fantasies and fetishes were stored there, and it was still tantalizing for the no-longer-girlfriendless virgin. However, with all of his willpower, he continued marching towards the checkout. Knowing that if he played his cards right, and was just patient enough, he might be able to get the real thing.

After purchasing the books with the money he mugged from his older brother, he quickly returned home before he was tempted to use the change to buy another dirty magazine. Once he was home, he immediately cracked open the beginner's lessons and went to work on it. Despite knowing the alphabet, sounding out the words was its own treacherous climb. It was even more difficult since he did not have a reliable reference to listen to, and the one he would want to listen to was studying hard for her exam. However, the one he especially did not want to listen to decided to enter their room with that overconfident smirk matching his overconfident sunglasses.

"Ah! _Burazaa_ , I see you're studying English because of the American girl. You know, I got good scores in English back in school. So, I can be your tutor!" the second brother offered. Karamatsu's English was the best out of all the other sextuplets, but the fourth brother would rather eat shit than listen to this piece-of-shit's lecture.

While trying to keep focus on his books, the annoyed younger brother replied harshly, "Piss off, Shittymatsu."

The second brother completely ignored the threats his little brother spat, and took a seat next to him. After quickly glancing over the page his brother was on, he read aloud, " _Ikusukyuusu mii, uotto taimu izu itto nau_?" Ichimatsu felt a little impressed at how quickly and fluidly his older brother read that sentence, but he still did not want his help.

"I said piss off!" he snarled, shutting the book.

His older brother slammed his hands on his own knees in outrage. "Why? Why do you hate me so much? What did I do?" he cried out. This was the first time the second brother directly confronted his darker, younger brother for singling him out. The answer came easily to him; it was just plain jealousy. Unlike him, Karamatsu was expressive, honest, and unyielding to society, no matter how embarrassing he made himself look. Without a care in the world, his older brother would wear gaudy clothes and spout metaphorical nonsense, yet still think he mattered in the world. How could he have so much self-confidence in himself when he was the biggest embarrassment in the family?

A sudden thought came across him; why was he still jealous of him? He had a girlfriend now, and this wonderful woman had enough patience to coax the confidence out of him. It was all his own fault for being the coward he was, and enacting on jealousy towards his brother, who wanted nothing more than to reach out to him, was just plain cruelty. There was no reason at all for the creep brother to hate his embarrassing older brother. With all sincerity, the younger brother replied, "I'm sorry."

The clear look of shock on his older brother's face was enough to reveal how much those words impacted him. Trying to still act cool, the second brother smirked, even though his lips were quivering, "Let's get back to your lesson." The younger one nodded as he reopened the book and read along with his brother. There was that foreign feeling again, but Ichimatsu was getting use to strange feelings. Foreign had never felt so pleasant before.

They had spent a good thirty minutes practicing pronunciations, and decided to take a small break to stand up and stretch their legs. Ichimatsu had been learning a lot, but his brother's thick accent was not optimal for practicing English pronunciations. Despite this, he was grateful that all this time he had one brother that legitimately wanted to help him. It felt sillier every time he thought about bullying or ignoring his second brother. Karamatsu turned to his younger brother with his arms out, waiting for a belated hug. They had not actually hugged since they were kids, and from the look on his older brother's face, he had been waiting for this moment almost all his life. Ichimatsu leaned in, letting his older brother wrap his arms around him tightly for a strong armed yet supportive embrace. It felt nice to have family support, nice enough for him to hug his brother back.

"I'm home," Choromatsu announced as he opened the door to their room. When he noticed his second and fourth brother embracing, he froze, fearing that he stumbled upon something forbidden. Ichimatsu was not going to go through that scenario again.

As if it was instinct, the fourth brother lifted his older brother off his feet and chucked him out the window of their second story bedroom. He felt guilty witnessing the betrayed look on Karamatsu's face as he flew out, and he promised himself that he would apologize to him later. It was going to take a while for the rest of the family to accept the two of them being friendly without seeming like something out of BL.

Though the workbooks helped him form solid structure in his English sentences and establish some proper grammar, he still needed more help on speaking those sentences properly. He had already spent an entire day dedicated to the workbooks, but it only got him so far until it became too difficult to complete without auditory aid. The next day, Ichimatsu wanted to use videos on the internet to help him practice his pronunciation. It was quite embarrassing to ask his youngest brother if he could borrow his laptop, but to his surprise, Totty was acting very supportive. Perhaps the sly sextuplet was planning something in his own interest again.

The youngest logged into his laptop and faced it towards his older brother, so that he could clearly see how to access the internet. This was the first time that Ichimatsu had been in front of a computer, and just watching his younger brother open up the browser icon was already overwhelming for him. "Just click on this browser, and then you type in 'Youtube' here," the younger brother explained as he loaded the video sharing site. An almost never-ending list of English language instructional videos emerged from their search, but Totty chose the one with the most views. The video was helpful but quite plain since it only had words being shown on screen with a woman's voice sounding out the words.

"Thanks, I'll take it from here," the older brother spoke as he listened carefully to the American woman in the video.

Without any regard to his older brother practicing, Todomatsu asked, "Do you visit Yukibo's school? Does she have any friends?"

Finally, it clicked in the dark brother's mind. As compensation for using his computer, Totty wanted his older brother to provide a pathway to the gorgeous college girls at Keio University. Remembering what she told him during their first meeting, he answered, "No, she doesn't have any friends."

The younger brother huffed, "You're such a liar, big brother! A girl like that would have loads of cute friends! You just want to be the only one with a girlfriend!"

"Doesn't that sound a little bit familiar, _Totty_?" the older brother teased, which forced the younger one to clam up. Pissed from being denied, the little brother stormed off, leaving his computer behind for the big brother. Finally, alone at last, he resumed practicing his pronunciation vocally.

After tirelessly studying a few videos, the dull, faceless videos were finally boring him. On the recommended list, there was one starring a Japanese college student who was giving pronunciation tips. Immediately he selected the video, but focused more on the pretty girl on screen rather than the quick lesson. He could not help but to imagine Yukibo in her place, and the thought of seeing her again made him excited. It had only been a day since he last saw her, and he had already missed her this much. His virgin urges became too overwhelming the more he thought about her, and eventually, it became impossible for him to focus on his English at all. There was no one else in his room, but after remembering what happened with Choromatsu, he had to be sure. Inside the closet was a "Fapping in Progress" sign that the eldest brother made after Choromatsu's exposure. Despite it being a joke at first, it was used quite regularly by all six brothers who needed some alone time in their room. After setting it up outside their room, he returned to the computer, drooling over the nasty fun he was about to have. He clicked on the search bar, typed in "college girl porn", and was in awe over the countless hits of beautiful AV actresses playing as college girls. It felt strange to search up porn that was not on women in cat ears and tails, but these just seemed more relevant to him. After all, all he wanted was Yukibo.

With a hand down his pants and the other hand wiping the drool off his face, he went through countless AVs. Nothing had really made him peak, but he felt like he was getting closer with every video. During his search, he pressed the wrong key and ended up closing the browser, leaving only the desktop on screen. Frustrated and so close, he went to try to open up the browser again, but his eyes caught on a particularly peculiar folder. It was a shortcut to a folder labeled, "Belly Buttons", and thus, Ichimatsu thought that this would be a good opportunity to figure out what his younger brother saw in his weird fetish for belly button wrinkles. The folder contained many photos of women, exposing more than just their belly buttons. While lightly chuckling to himself, he admitted that his little brother had really good taste, despite only focusing on their bellies. The older brother only wanted to imagine Yukibo in place of the nude models in the photos. There were probably hundreds of photos that Todomatsu had collected, and the older brother switched to the next one every few seconds, pausing at the ones that looked closer to Yukibo. He was getting closer, and one more should finish him.

Ichimatsu suddenly froze on one photo, unable to continue pleasuring himself under his sweatpants. No doubt, the girl's face was cute, but the further down he looked, he stumbled upon something that should never be on a girl. He slammed the laptop closed, and moved far away from it into the furthest corner of his room. With his boner faded and his manhood on the line, he decided to just wait in this corner until he could wrap his mind around masturbating to half of it.

The door was frantically slid open as the youngest brother returned. "Hey! Are you using my laptop to fap?" Todomatsu yelled out, but after seeing his older brother in a corner and his laptop shut, he feared the worst.

"You have the balls to be shouting at me, Homomatsu?" the older brother snarled.

"H-H-H-HOMO?" the youngest stammered, while his face reddened, "W-W-WHY WERE YOU LOOKING THROUGH MY STASH?"

"WHY THE FUCK IS THERE DICKS IN YOUR STASH?" the older one screamed out.

"KEEP YOUR FUCKING VOICE DOWN!" his younger brother retorted, "It's not about the dick! Her belly button wrinkle is perfect!"

"'HER'? 'SHE' HAS A DICK!" he argued.

"S-SHUT THE FUCK UP! DAMN IT!" the youngest cried out, and snatched his laptop, "I'M NEVER LETTING YOU BORROW MY LAPTOP AGAIN!"

The rest of the sextuplets arrived due to the commotion, curious as to why their fourth and sixth brother were screaming at each other. The eldest brother asked, "Why the hell are you guys talking about dicks for?"

"There's dicks in Todoma-" Ichimatsu tried to explain, but the youngest brother lifted him up over his head and threw him out the recently fixed window. As he collided with the glass and made his fall from the second story window, he realized where this all went wrong. If he had not been distracted with his urges and focused on studying English, he would not be falling from two stories. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he should not have snapped at his younger brother so quickly, especially since he did not even hate gays at all. It just came as a shock to see _otokonoko_ s and half-fapping to one. As his body crashed onto the hard pavement below, he decided to continue his studies with American Hollywood movies. Learning English through an entertaining medium may be just the right mix he needed to master the language. For now, he would spend the rest of the day recuperating from his injuries.

On the third day of Ichimatsu's budget cram school for English, Osomatsu walked into the living room and noticed his fourth and fifth brother watching a movie on their TV. There was a stack of DVDs lying beside them, and they were all recent Hollywood blockbusters from the States. The eldest had not watched any of the movies in that stack and thought it would be fun to watch them with his younger brothers. He took a seat in between the two and watched two men inside a spaceship fighting with each other with swords made from light. The fifth brother was watching the beam swords clash with his mouth agape, but the fourth brother had a notebook and pen.

"Huh? Ichimatsu, are you studying a movie?" the eldest asked.

"He's learning English for cat food girl!" Jyushimatsu revealed.

Ichimatsu sighed, "Her name is Yukibo."

The eldest laughed, "I'll never get use to that name. What's this movie called anyway?"

" _Star Wars_ ," they both answered.

They were rather absorbed in the movie as they watched, laughing every now and then at the comedic scenes and tensing up at the dramatic ones. Before they knew it, the movie was over, and the candid elder brother and hyperactive fifth brother looked over to Ichimatsu, wondering if he wrote down anything. The dark brother grimaced realizing that he was so engrossed with the movie that he had not written anything down. He could not even remember most of the dialogue in English because the Japanese subtitles replaced it. It was frustrating that after watching all the Hollywood movies he rented, he could not retain any English from them.

"Just tell her, 'Yukibo, _ai rabu yuu_! _Rettsu meekingu sekkusu_!'" Osomatsu teased, causing his younger brother's face to redden in embarrassment and rage.

"Hey, big brother Ichimatsu, you should invite her over one day," Jyushimatsu suggested.

"Tch, no way," he rejected, "I'd never bring her anywhere near you assholes."

"Hey, come on, Ichimatsu! Bring her over! Have her buy us dinner since she's so rich!" the eldest persisted.

"You disgust me," he replied, and gathered all the movies he watched, "I'm going to go rent some more."

Osomatsu maintained his grin watching Ichimatsu leave the room. Once he was gone, the oldest got up and went into their closet. Jyushimatsu watched almost absentmindedly as his eldest brother pulled out a purple sweatshirt and wore it over his red shirt. He ruffled his hair to make it unruly like his younger brother's, and then turned towards his other younger brother. "How do I look?" he asked.

"Like a happy Ichimatsu," the younger brother replied.

The eldest slouched over, loosened his eyelids, and even laxed his jowls to give himself a convincing scowl. "How about now?" he asked again while deepening and scratching his voice.

Jyushimatsu answered cautiously, "Just like Ichimatsu."

"Great!" the older brother grinned, "I'll be back!"

The eldest reached the door, but stopped when his younger brother asked, "Big brother, what are you doing?"

He turned around and saw that his little brother's permanent smile had faded. There was concern, which was odd to see Jyushimatsu express. However, Osomatsu assured him with his smile, "What's with that face? I'm just going to invite Yukibo over for dinner. I know exactly where she is." The eldest left their room, leaving his stunned younger brother inside.

An hour had passed, and it was almost time for dinner. Their mother had made _shabu shabu_ fresh from the vegetables and meats that were on sale. The sextuplets waited patiently at their table for their mother to serve them, but all but two of the sextuplets were present.

"Where's Osomatsu and Ichimatsu?" Choromatsu asked.

"Ichimatsu is renting more movies," Jyushimatsu answered briefly.

"What about Osomatsu?" the third brother pried, but the fifth brother remained silent. Though his mouth was agape and smiling, the beads of sweat that formed on his face was a clear giveaway that something was up. "Jyushimatsu, what's wrong?" his older brother asked.

"I'm home! Look who I brought!" yelled out the cheery voice of their oldest brother. The other four sextuplets and even their parents peeked out to look, and they were shocked to see the first-born son with the fabled cat food girl. It was suspicious as to how and why Osomatsu invited the girl over to their home. However, seeing the first-born in his fourth brother's sweatshirt sparked even more suspicion from the rest of the family. Did he trick Yukibo into thinking he was Ichimatsu?

Yukibo bowed politely, "Thank you for inviting me. I hope it wasn't too much trouble." The fact that she did not seem fazed by Osomatsu made it even more concerning. If Yukibo actually believed their oldest brother was Ichimatsu, then finding out her mistake would put a strain on her relationship with their fourth brother. It might even force her to leave him from the sheer humiliation. Whatever their eldest brother was planning could only lead to disaster.

"Ah! You must be Yukibo! It's so nice to meet you! My! How lovely you look!" their mother greeted, unable to hold back her need to remedy the situation.

Their father followed their mother's lead and greeted, "You must be the American girl my sons were talking about! In my opinion, you're way too good for any of my sons." The plan was made clear with the rest of the family. While the parents kept her comfortable, the brothers must confront the oldest brother.

"It's nice to meet you," she greeted, "I'm sorry I didn't bring a gift. It was short notice of me."

"You're so polite. There's no need for that at all. We're happy to finally meet you," the father laughed.

As their parents smothered the girl with compliments and politeness, the younger sextuplets snagged and dragged their oldest brother into the living room. Osomatsu stared blankly at his younger brothers' faces as they glared at him with disgust.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Choromatsu snapped, trying to keep his voice down, "Why are you dressed as Ichimatsu, and why did you bring her here?"

"What's wrong? Just wanted to push things along a little. The next step in dating is meeting the parents, right?" the older brother replied candidly, while scratching the bottom of his nose.

Karamatsu grabbed his older brother by the collar and clenched it tightly in his fists. He snarled, "It's not your place to do things like that! Does she really think you're him?"

Osomatsu grinned like a happy child. "We talked so much. It was like she was _my_ girlfriend. I think I might be falling in love," he answered, and met with a hard punch to his face by the second brother. Karamatsu reeled back for another jab, but Jyushimatsu latched on to hold him back from pummeling his oldest brother. The sheer rage from the second brother was too much for the hyperactive brother to contain which forced the third brother to grab hold as well.

Osomatsu rubbed his hurt cheek, but was met with a whack on the top of his head by a rolled-up magazine by his youngest brother. Todomatsu snapped, "This was extra shitty of you, big brother! The absolute worst!"

"Stop it!" Yukibo cried out, and forced the sextuplets to freeze in place. She had been watching them fight, but from the horrified look on her face, they feared that she was humiliated from being tricked by their eldest brother. They half expected her to run out of the house crying. After all, any normal girl would have felt embarrassed. However, she went to the eldest's aid and said, "Are you alright?"

The other four brothers were stunned, and the oldest grinned, now rubbing his head, "Yeah, I'm okay, now that you're here." Had she not realized what they were fighting about?

"Y-Yukibo! That's not Ichimatsu!" Karamatsu shouted angrily, "He's our shitty oldest brother, Osomatsu!"

"I know," she replied casually, shocking the four younger brothers again. As she checked the eldest's hurt face, she scolded at him, "Idiot, you shouldn't be teasing your brothers like that." She then turned to bow at the other brothers, while saying, "He talked non-stop about how he was going to prank you all. I tried to talk him out of it. Sorry I couldn't convince him."

"Y-you knew it was him all along?" Choromatsu asked.

She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear so sweetly, "Yep! The moment he showed up, I knew." Somehow a girl they had just met was able to differentiate them better than their own parents. It was as refreshing as it was impressive for the brothers.

"So cool!" Jyushimatsu cheered, jumping up and down from excitement.

"Wow, good job, Yukibo!" Choromatsu congratulated.

"I'm really impressed!" Todomatsu exclaimed sweetly.

" _Guddo jyobu_!" Karamatsu said in English despite his thick accent.

Osomatsu grinned, scratching the bottom of his nose, "She really is one of a kind."

The rest of the sextuplets introduced themselves properly to her, and they were impressed when she learned their names rather quickly, never mixing them up once. Still, all but one of the sextuplets were present. "So, where's Ichimatsu?" she asked.

"He's not here," the eldest grinned, but met with a hard and loud smack across the face from her, "OW! Why is everyone hitting me today?"

"Is there anything else you lied to me about, Liarmatsu?" she huffed. The pun she invented made the rest of the brothers giggle, and they were surprised that they had not come up with it themselves.

As he took off the purple sweatshirt and tossed it back in the closet, he replied, "You're the smart one. You figure it out." The rest of his brothers stared at him in bewilderment. They were not sure if it was because of Yukibo, but he was acting more like a nuisance than before.

She pushed her hair behind her right ear and she sighed, "Don't tell me you brought me here just because you could. I'm leaving." Before she could turn, the eldest grabbed her shoulder.

"Come on! He'll be here soon. Since you came all this way at least stay for dinner!" he tried to persuade, "Do you want a beer, Yankee?"

"H-Hey! How can you ask if she wants a beer so casually? And don't call her a 'Yankee'!" Choromatsu scolded.

"Yeah, sure," she accepted, shocking the rest of the brothers.

"Coming right up," the eldest brother grinned and went to go fetch beers. Choromatsu followed him and stopped him once they were far enough away from the rest of the group.

"Seriously, Osomatsu. What's going on with you?" the third brother spoke out in concern, "I've never seen you like this before."

His older brother giggled darkly, which sent chills down his younger brother's spine. The reasonable brother could only hope that this was still all part of some elaborate prank, but his older brother spoke, "She just accepted beer from me! She's so weird! I can't figure her out at all! It's driving me nuts!" There was a look in his eyes that Choromatsu had never seen before. It was the spark of a child who obtained a new toy, and this terrified him.

The third brother stammered, "Y-you don't actually like her, do you?"

From his still face, it was unclear what was going on in the eldest brother's mind. "Of course not," he answered, which was relieving for the younger brother. However, he added while grinning widely, "But, she's really… exciting me." Choromatsu was unsure if he was still joking with him or not. He knew his older brother was cruel at times, but this went beyond anything his older brother had ever done before. Because this was his brother, he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, something just did not seem right with him anymore.

"Big brother Osomatsu," the third brother called out, "Don't do anything you'll regret. Ichimatsu needs her."

"Stop over thinking it," his older brother spoke out, almost coldly, "Help me carry the beers."

The two returned, carrying four six packs of beer. The _shabu shabu_ had already been set up in the middle of their table, and from the looks of the boiling vegetables inside, it was already time to eat. Beer and _shabu shabu_ were very good together, and the rest of the brothers were excited to celebrate. Tonight was about their fourth brother and his girlfriend.

"Hey, what's with all the booze?" Ichimatsu asked as he entered the living room, but froze stiff when he saw Yukibo sitting with his brothers. When she saw him, she was thrilled and got up to embrace him. However, his demeanor was dark and threatening, and though none were directed towards her, it forced her to stave off from putting her arms around him. In an empty tone, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Osomatsu invited me. Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked.

"I thought you were studying," he replied coldly.

She tucked her hair over her right ear and apologized, "I should've only showed if you were the one to invite me. I should leave." The rest of the sextuplets were shocked that their fourth brother was acting so cold towards her, but they really wanted her to stay.

"Wait, Yukibo, don't leave!" Karamatsu vouched, "Ichimatsu is always like this. He actually wants you here!"

"I need to hear him say it," she told him.

Of course, he wanted her here! However, his irrational fear that his idiotic brothers would scare her off was still in the back of his mind. The fact that she made it this far only proved to him how patient she really was, but now since Osomatsu brought alcohol, he knew that the situation was going to grow even more out of control. One lone, beautiful girl in a room with six virgin horn dogs and with alcohol was the worst situation anyone could imagine. But still, she was here right in front of him, days earlier than what she promised. He could not be happier to see her again.

"I'm leaving then, Ichimatsu," she told him, but he stopped her.

"Wait, stay," he told her, and relished in her sparkling eyes, " _Ai berii happii shii yuu_. _Misu yuu a rotto_." He felt so embarrassed saying that to her in front of his brothers, but she meant that much to him. Thinking that his brothers would be snickering, he was surprised to see them smiling and supporting him. Karamatsu was even getting teary eyed from it.

She smiled widely when he spoke English to her. From her expression, he could tell it really took her by surprise, but she really appreciated it. In perfect English, she replied, "I missed you, too," and she embraced him. Though it had only been a few days, he still could not get enough of the feel of her. He felt truly complete when he hugged her back.

"Alright, Yankee-bo, we, Matsuno sextuplets, are strong drinkers. Since you have 'Matsu' in your name, can you drink as much as we can?" Osomatsu egged, disrupting their moment.

Ichimatsu was getting really tired of his elder brother trying to tug everyone around, and yelled out, "What are you trying to-"

"Don't underestimate me, Liarmatsu. I come from a family of strong drinkers as well, and I had my fair share," the girl challenged, "Your weak Japanese beer is like water to me." The sextuplets were surprised by her bold words, and grew to like her even more. They were really impressed with her American confidence, and Osomatsu was especially impressed.

"Let's start!" he beamed pulling the beers from their plastic rings.

As Ichimatsu and Yukibo took their seats, Osomatsu was about to take his seat next to her. The threatening brother commanded, "Osomatsu, you sit across."

The eldest laughed, "I won't touch her, you know-"

"OTHER SIDE!" his younger brother yelled.

"Fine, fine," and he sat on the other end of the table and served up everyone's beer.

Everyone cheered to celebrate the day and started guzzling down. Most took three large gulps before setting their can down, but Osomatsu and Yukibo were chugging it. Yukibo finished her drink before him and crushed the can in her hand to assert ultimate dominance. The eldest brother finished shortly after, getting red in the cheeks from drinking his beer too quickly. However, the girl was not even red at all, and the brothers admired her resilience. They never thought this dinner would turn out to be a drinking contest.

" _Nekusuto_!" Osomatsu called out giving himself one and passed one to her as well. Everyone else opted out, and decided to eat their dinner and watch. The two cracked open the can, chugged it, and went on to the next. The brothers watched in awe as both Osomatsu and Yukibo went through an entire six-pack each on their own.

"W-wait, Yukibo, you don't have to humor him," Ichimatsu said as he grew concerned. She finished her beer before the eldest brother again and faced the fourth brother. Her cheeks were getting red. "You should eat something. Come on, say 'Ah'," he tried to persuade, attempting to feed her a mushroom.

She willingly ate, and then told him, "Don't worry about me. I'm just trying to pass your brother's trials." All the younger brothers were confused at that statement, but Osomatsu was laughing hard, mostly due to his drunkenness.

"DAMN! YOU GOT ME!" he exclaimed, while slapping his knee, "I was trying to figure you out, but you already figured me out! Yankee-bo is the best girl! I'm so jealous!" Suddenly, it all made sense. Osomatsu had a funny way of always being there for his younger brothers even if it came off as cruel. Their oldest brother wanted to see how much he could push Yukibo, and test her patience. After all, all six of them were unemployed, futureless virgins, and a woman with an interest in any of them needed to be able to put up with that. He wanted to spare his brothers the heartache, even if it meant hurting them himself.

"I can't date you since you're dating my brother. Can you bring your sister here so I can date her?" the eldest brother asked.

"I would, but she already has a husband back in the States," she told him.

"WHAT? Why would she marry American when she should marry someone from her own country?" he drunkenly asked.

"She did, idiot! We're Americans!" she laughed, and all the brothers joined in the laughter as well.

The seven of them enjoyed their dinner, sharing small anecdotes and learning more and more about her. They ate every little piece of the _shabu shabu_ until there was only the small puddle of broth left in the dish.

"Ah! That was so good! I owe you guys for this great meal," she exclaimed, obviously a little tipsy from going through an entire six pack.

"I'll keep you to your word," Osomatsu promised, and then passed another beer to her, "I still need to see you drunk, so I know that you're worthy."

"It's not your place to say who's worthy, you NEET," Todomatsu scoffed. The rest of the little brothers agreed; she was already more than worthy.

She finished the beer he passed to her and her cheeks were getting redder. She spouted drunkenly, "Am I worthy yet?"

"You're a good drinker, but are you good in bed?" Osomatsu teased, causing his younger brothers to grimace.

"T-that's enough!" Ichimatsu flustered.

Yukibo held her face, looking down and away from everyone. The fourth brother's heart dropped from the sight. Osomatsu had pushed her too far, and she had become upset and embarrassed. Suddenly, she pulled back up with both hands still on her face and the tip of her pinky in her mouth.

"More! More! I can't get enough! I want it so much!" she moaned out causing the virgin souls of all six brothers to escape. They were all trembling, and blood from their noses almost caked the table. They all scooted closer into the table trying to hide their obvious boners. "It's all inside me! It's so hot!" she gasped, and then screamed out in pseudo-ecstasy, causing all of them to scream for her to stop before they came in their pants.

"You win. I concede," Osomatsu spoke up, while trembling, finally admitting defeat to her. His younger brothers were also defeated from just her voice.

The sight of them shivering and desperately trying to stifle their erections made her laugh loudly and victoriously. "You guys are huge dorks! I'm so glad to have met you all. I've never had this much fun before," she laughed, and then got up and bowed, "Thanks for having me, but I think I should get going."

"Already?" Choromatsu responded.

"But we've only just started," Karamatsu whined.

"Can't you stay for a little bit longer?" Todomatsu begged sweetly.

"Stay just a bit longer!" Jyushimatsu cheered.

"You should spend the night," Osomatsu grinned.

"After what I just did, I'll pass. I don't want to wake up to a bunch of hands," she teased, "Perverts."

"You're the pervert with your hot face!" the eldest brother spouted, and smiled devilishly, "I'm going to fap to it."

"Don't you dare!" Ichimatsu snapped, slamming his fist down on the table.

"It's fine. He's drunk," the girl consoled, "I should get going now."

"W-wait! By yourself? That's dangerous especially this late," Choromatsu mentioned.

"It's way too much trouble for someone to take me all the way home. I live in the city," she argued.

"Ichimatsu!" the eldest brother called out in his drunk tone, "Take your girlfriend home!" His brothers agreed and urged him to walk Yukibo back home safely. The fourth brother looked over at the girl, his eyes already asking the question.

"You really don't mind?" she asked.

He smiled, and shook his head, "I don't mind at all."

She latched onto his arm and looked back at the other NEETs. "Bye!" she said in English, then the rest in Japanese, "See you guys next time."

" _Bai-bai_ , Yukibo!" they all said in unison as Ichimatsu helped her out of the house.

Once the couple left, Osomatsu scratched the bottom of his nose and grinned, "Our doll of darkness is going to graduate from being a virgin, tonight." Immediately, the other four brothers turned towards him, loudly expressing their shock and jealousy.

The couple took the subway on their way to the metropolitan city. Ichimatsu had his surgical mask over his face, which would deter anyone from approaching him, and thus protect her from any and all strange persons. During the ride, she was grasping at his arm, nuzzling against him. It was adorable how affectionate she was towards him, even though she was pretty drunk. Her drunk self was so boisterous and playful, completely different from her polite and unassuming self. Truth was usually revealed through drunkenness, and seeing this side of her made him feel really good about himself. She must really like him from the bottom of her heart.

"Did you have fun?" she asked him.

"Yeah, that was actually really fun," he responded.

"You don't think I'm lewd for making that face, did you?" she asked.

He assured her, "It was so sexy."

While laughing, she hit his chest and replied, "Don't say stuff like that. I feel so stupid for doing that right in front of your brothers!"

"It was great! I'm just glad they didn't scare you off," he told her, "I'm thankful that you still want to be with me after all that."

"You didn't even drink much, and you're telling me how you feel. We've made such great progress together," she mentioned.

"You really bring out the best in me," he revealed.

"That's what girlfriends do, don't they?" she replied, nuzzling her drunken face on his chest.

They finally made it to the entrance of her apartment. Her front door was secured by a code-based lock mechanism just above the door's handle. She whispered loud enough for him to easily hear, "Three-one-zero-zero-three-seven," as if she wanted him to know her code. He burned those numbers into his mind. They entered her pitch-black apartment, and she turned on a small light by her front door. It barely illuminated the room, but he could see that this was a one-bedroom apartment: a kitchen connected to the living room, a doorway to her bedroom, and a doorway to her bathroom. An apartment like this would cost a fortune especially in the metropolitan heart of Tokyo. There was no doubt that she came from money.

"I'll let you sleep," he said to her. He tried to leave, but she would not let go of him.

"Wait, Ichimatsu," she said to him. Suddenly, she pulled down his mask, and the next thing he knew, her lips were on his, directly touching for the very first time. He felt nothing but warmth, and the heat grew and grew until he finally just melted into her. His hands wanted to clutch at her back and pull her closer to him, but they just hung at his sides while his knees were quaking underneath him. The unburnable trash stood awkwardly limp as he kissed a girl for the very first time, and to him, it could not be more perfect.

Once she pulled away, he remained in that same pose with his lower lip hanging from being dazed by his first kiss. Her irresistible, little habit of tucking her hair over her right ear brought out a small smile out of him, but he was stunned when she suddenly grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into another kiss. It was more forceful, much heavier, and definitely a lot hotter. He did not even notice her slowly leading him into her bedroom within the darkness of her apartment. The couple collapsed on the bed together with their lips still locked. Yukibo took it a step further as she parted her lips, and gently teased him with her tongue by lapping at his lips. His whole body shivered; he could not keep up at all, but he loved every moment of it. Following her lead, he dropped his tongue onto hers, and he felt like he was combusting at this point. Never had he thought of reaching this far this quickly. He was not ready, but he knew he would be an idiot if he passed this up. At the very core of his being, he wanted to go all the way with her, no one else but her.

She pulled his hands in between the buttoned slits of her shirt, beckoning him to open it up. His hands trembled as he fumbled with the buttons of her shirt, but out of frustration, he forcibly tore it open. A few buttons had broken off, making the shirt useless. He would have apologized, but he was distracted by the lacy reward inside, and he victoriously cupped the floral-patterned globe of her bra. He felt his body burning hotter than the core of the sun at this point for reaching to her amazing bra. If he were to die right now, he would die without any regrets.

She pulled away from him again, and whispered, "Keep going."

After all the years of watching pornography, this was his crowning moment. Not only was he about to lose his virginity, but he was also putting his love making skills to the test. Years of jerking off had to have built up his stamina for this very moment, at least that was what he believed. How embarrassing it would be if he put it in and came instantaneously. He had to shake off the thought, thinking it might jinx him. Following steps taken in his pornos, he took charge by removing her shirt and pulling down her skirt. The feel of her wide, American hips and long, slender legs beneath his palms as he glided them down her body made him drool. He was actually getting off from just the sight and feel of her, and no matter how many times he wiped his chin, more slobber trickled out. The next step was to remove his own clothes, and he had a disgusting habit of being completely nude under his sweatshirt and pants. Though Yukibo was still in her bra and panties, Ichimatsu was naked and, from the perkiness of his erection, completely excited. He crawled over her form, while licking his lips to kiss her once more, but her head was to the side. She was motionless.

"Huh? Yukibo?" he whispered, turning her head towards him. She had fallen asleep, knocked out by the loads of alcohol she drank. "Hey! Y-Yukibo!" he raised his voice a bit, trying to shake her awake, but to no avail, "Come on, Yukibo! You can't just- Yukibo!" Fearing his impotence made him fail to notice another oversight: falling straight into the comedic blue-balled routine. He pulled away, sitting back on his knees as she laid partially nude and sprawled in front of him. She gave him her consent, he remembered. She told him she wanted him, and so, it should be okay if he continued. He crawled over her once more, and as he took a good look at her sleeping face, he knew he could not go through with it. Deep within him, he realized he liked her too much to take advantage of her like this. Besides, he wanted to see her expressions, especially that face she made earlier today. With all of his willpower, he put her clothes back on, and did his best to cover her with the shirt he ruined, promising to owe her a new shirt. He then put his clothes back on, tucked her in, and said "good-night" as he left her apartment.

After taking the subway back, he arrived at his house, and his brothers were upstairs in their room, getting ready for bed. When he entered, he was met with five confused faces, all wondering why he returned. His brothers tried to probe him for details, but he remained vague, never mentioning what almost happened.

"Why didn't you just spend the night with her? Do you seriously prefer to sleep with five other men than a woman?" Osomatsu drunkenly joked, "Maybe you did like Totty's dick stash."

"S-shut up. She was out cold when we got back. I had to tuck her in and everything," he mentioned, partially lying, "It felt wrong to just stay and make myself at home."

"Damn, I got her too drunk," he laughed, and scratched the bottom of his nose, "If only she had stayed awake a little longer, you'd be graduating from a virgin right now. Too bad!"

The fourth brother gritted his teeth, suspecting that his oldest brother had cock blocked him out of sheer jealousy. If it was true, then it was very callous and petty of him. This entire night, Osomatsu was completely focused on her and cracking jokes with her. It almost seemed like there was chemistry between them, and more and more the younger brother's suspicions grew.


	5. Chapter 5

"What the hell are you doing in my room, you fap-happy NEET?" Totoko spat once she entered her bedroom. She had just returned from her practically empty concert performance, and she only wanted to crash on her bed and call it a night. She was not pleased to see Osomatsu sitting on her floor, looking giggly and excited to see her. The fish idol was used to this kind of attention from him and the rest of his brothers, and honestly, she enjoyed having them fawn over her. Despite this, she would never date any of them, because they were stupid, broke virgins. "I'm not going to date you no matter how many times you grovel at my feet. And you know that any gifts you have for me go in that corner over there," she scowled, and pointed at the large pile in the corner that was filled with unopened gifts from all six brothers and other suitors.

"I'm not here to date you," Osomatsu answered bluntly, which caught her off guard, "I'm here to tell you some news, and I need a favor." Intrigued, the fish market girl agreed to hear him out. He explained, "So, one of us has a girlfriend now! And she's a rich American! Practically just pouring money on the rest of us!"

Now, he had Totoko's undivided attention. "Rich? How many houses does she own? What businesses does her family own? Does she have a brother? Or a cousin? Any men in her life that's single right now?" she asked. Even Osomatsu adored how honest her intentions were.

"I don't know," he answered playfully, "All I know is that she's flawless! Rich, beautiful, and really, really smar-"

Totoko responded with one of her signature body blows, which raised his body a few feet into the air. It knocked the wind out of him, and he collapsed back onto the floor. Once her rage subsided, she saw him on her floor gasping for air, and was puzzled as to how he ended up on her floor. "Are you okay?" she asked.

This was typical of her, being unaware of when she was jealous of someone, but still taking out her unrelenting rage on the nearest victim. However, Osomatsu gathered himself up rather quickly, and while still in a little bit of pain, he said, "You should start spending some time with us. That rich girl always hangs out with us, you know."

She giggled, "Well, now that there's another woman around, it won't be so creepy."

"So you'll date one of us then?" he asked.

"Now that you guys have money," she answered, "I might let one of you date me as long as you stay rich."

"Great! Will you date Ichimatsu?" he asked.

"Which one is Ichimatsu?" she asked.

He sighed, "The purple one."

"Oh! The creep!" she laughed, then shivered, "Ew, why him?"

"He's the only one left who's still single," he lied with a grin, "I'm already seeing someone, and the rest of my little brothers are also seeing other girls. Ichimatsu is the only one left. It'll be so easy! Offer him sex if you have to! Don't you want a hand in that American girl's bank?"

She had the look of intense disgust and disbelief as she glared at him, but it completely changed to a gleeful smile. Limiting to a single brother completely removed the need to choose a sextuplet. Although she never intended on dating any of them as broke as they are, she definitely wanted her hand in that rich American bank. She answered, "Alright then! As long as you promise me that I'll be rich and happy." No class, no self-respect; that was what he loved about Totoko.

He grinned, while scratching the bottom of his nose, "You got it." As he was about to leave, he stopped at her door and turned towards her once more. He told her, "Also, this conversation never happened. My brother is gloomy, but he still has his pride."

The fish idol nodded and winked, "What conversation?" Osomatsu grinned widely, appreciating her for being so rotten.

The next day, while Ichimatsu went to feed his cats in the alley, he did not notice another presence there with him. It was very quiet inside, with only the muffled sounds of the town behind him and of his cats mewing for food. There was still plenty of food left for another two weeks, thanks to Yukibo for leaving him such a large bag of cat food. He could not wait to see her again, but it would still be one more day until the two had their official first date. Still new to dating and having a girlfriend, he wondered if getting her a gift would be too forward. In that moment, he remembered that he had ruined Yukibo's shirt the other night by allowing his virgin frustration to shred it off of her. Knowing Yukibo's affluence, he figured the shirt was expensive, and for ruining her shirt with absolutely no payoff, he had to make it up to her. A normal simple shirt would not do. It would have to be made of excellent materials and be fashionable as well, which was something he had no knowledge of. As he was lost in thought, stroking the backs of his cats as they ate, the presence crept up closer to him until she was right behind him.

"Hi, Ichimatsu!" Totoko loudly greeted, which startled him so much that he and his cats launched up about four feet into the air.

He landed gracefully on his feet, which he learned from his cats, and then turned towards Totoko with an annoyed expression. The fish merchant's daughter would normally make him feel warm and bubbly inside, but seeing her now made him feel nothing but aggravation. Though he had lusted after her since they were children, he no longer felt that way towards her. She was just another person to him, no longer the adorable idol goddess he remembered her to be. All the times she toyed with his feelings, rejected him, and mocked him came vividly to him. He could see her what she truly was: just a rotten, childhood "friend".

"What do you want?" he replied coldly.

Acting as cute and coy as she could, she replied, "I was hoping you'd go shopping with me." She wanted to gauge how much money the Matsuno brothers came into, and what better way to test that than to go shopping?

Ichimatsu stared at her in disbelief. Never had she ever wanted to hang out with him alone, nor spoken to him alone, nor even approached him alone. However, perhaps this could help him with the predicament he was in. He had some money left, and just received his allowance today. Perhaps it was God's will that Totoko just so happened to stop by; he could use her woman's expertise.

"Sure," he answered, "Let me drop this bag off at home first." The oblivious couple then exited the alley and walked side-by-side to his house.

Once they arrived at his house, Osomatsu saw Totoko from their bedroom window. She was waiting patiently outside as his fourth brother entered their house. Even though she thought they were rich, she still would not set foot inside the quagmire of the virgins' sexual frustrations alone. The eldest glanced back at the rest of his brothers who were off doing their usual hobbies, and while grinning, he said, "Hey, look, it's Totoko."

All of his younger brothers, except Choromatsu, who stayed behind grimacing, stopped what they were doing and looked through the window with their older brother. They were stunned and borderline outraged to see Ichimatsu exit their house and walk away somewhere with their childhood friend.

"Cocky bastard!" Todomatsu growled, "Yukibo wasn't enough for him, and now he's after Totoko? Ungrateful shit!"

"This has to be a mistake," Karamatsu disagreed as he crossed his arms in more of a pose than an expression, "There's no way he would do this to a _greeto gaaru_ like Yukibo. There has to be another reason."

"Big brother Ichimatsu wouldn't do this kind of thing!" Jyushimatsu vouched.

"Sure looks like it," Osomatsu shrugged, then sighed, "Ah! Poor Yukibo!"

Choromatsu exclaimed, "Why did Totoko choose him out of all of us? He has Yukibo for crying out loud!"

The second brother took his sunglasses off in his dramatic pause, before answering, "I know exactly why. It's a powerful complex that strong women have towards unavailable men. 'Mate-poaching'!" The rest of the brothers, for once, listened carefully to what their second brother was explaining.

"I've seen that before," Todomatsu agreed, as he recalled some of his female patrons at _Sutaabaa_ flirting with married men.

Karamatsu elaborated, "They see an unavailable man, and they treat his relationship like a challenge. It's possible that Totoko wants to prove to the world that she's more desirable than Yukibo."

It made perfect sense to the brothers. Totoko was as egomaniacal as they come. How she found out about Ichimatsu's girlfriend was a mystery to them, but they assumed that women had the ability to detect other women on men. It was almost like a super power. However, none of that really explained why Ichimatsu was spending time with her while Yukibo was away. They were hoping he was oblivious about her scheme, but at the same time, Totoko was his first crush, and as a virgin NEET, he would easily succumb to her. There was a sick feeling in the brothers' guts, all but Osomatsu's.

The oblivious couple arrived at their town's shopping district with stores ranging from clothing boutiques to electronic havens. Department stores were clustered in this area, and so were the patrons. The two found it quite difficult to navigate in the busy district. No matter where the two of them took a step, they were bumping against other people.

"Let's go here first!" Totoko shouted cheerfully above the crowd as she dragged Ichimatsu into a jewelry store. He groaned, knowing he did not want to waste time window shopping when he needed to find a good shirt for Yukibo, but he also did not want to receive one of Totoko's full powered body blows.

The inside of the jewelry store was sparkling with gems and precious metals. The unburnable trash felt out of place in such a fancy store, but the fish idol was ecstatic as she demanded to try on expensive jewelry. They had to be the most expensive, so expensive that even the clerk hesitated on letting Totoko try them on.

"Ichimatsu, how do I look?" she asked as she tried on the diamond tiara, but his attention was elsewhere. She watched him stare intently at the diamond rings, and she giggled, thinking he already planned on marrying her. However, it was not Totoko he was thinking about.

The unburnable trash was staring at the prices of the diamond rings more so than the rings themselves. He wondered how long it would take for him to gather up enough money to purchase one. There was no doubt in his mind that spending the rest of his life with Yukibo was something he could imagine, but how could he achieve such a feat with no income whatsoever? How long would Yukibo have to wait for him to become the man she needed him to be?

"Ichimatsu? Look at me!" she shouted, which snapped him out of his thoughts.

He looked over to see her covered in expensive, gaudy jewelry. "What?" he responded with slight annoyance in his tone.

"Don't I look glamorous?" she asked while she posed.

"Sure," he replied, turning his attention back to the prices.

"I'll take them all!" she told the clerk, gleefully, and handed him her credit card. Once she hooked Ichimatsu, she would get all her money back and then some. To her, this purchase was free.

While the clerk happily charged her, Ichimatsu stood stunned and confused as to how Totoko planned on paying for the jewelry when he knew she was not rich at all. Perhaps one of her concerts had a really good turnout, or maybe she landed a contract with a producer. That still did not explain why she wanted to go shopping with him. He groaned, unable to understand women at all!

Joyous of her purchase, she then dragged her oblivious date to an electronics store. Still needing to buy the girl he liked a shirt, he expressed loudly on how much he did not want to be in this store. "Hey, Totoko, I need your help on…" he was about to mention, but she was busy gawking at the TVs and computers. While ignoring Ichimatsu, she called over one of the sales associates. First, she bought expensive jewelry that was out of her price range, and now she was going to buy a brand-new TV? How and when did Totoko suddenly come into so much money?

"I also want a new stereo with surround sound, a new computer with the highest specs, the latest tablet, and a brand-new smart phone!" she added to her order. The associate was happy to oblige, but her 'date' just watched in awe. Perhaps she may be going a bit overboard with her spending.

"Totoko," he called out.

She turned to him with a smile, "I love shopping! It's always nice to have new stuff!"

He decided against expressing his concerns, but instead, he told her, "I want to go to a clothing store."

She clapped her hands together in glee and grinned, "That's a great idea! I want new clothes! I'll tell them to deliver all my stuff to my house. You and I can go to a boutique!" Again, she paid for her brand-new, state-of-the-art electronics with her own credit card, and even paid for them to be delivered to her home. He wondered if this was how Yukibo shopped. Could he adapt to such a luxurious lifestyle if he were to spend the rest of his life with her? It was already so uncomfortable with Totoko.

The first boutique the couple shopped at was completely out of his price range. He would have to drop every cent he had, and if he did, it might be enough to buy a pair of socks from this place. The clothes in this store were quite fashionable in his eyes, and he would have loved to see Yukibo wearing anything in this store. They even had the shirt that closely resembled the one he ruined, a plain pink button-up, but it was almost triple of what he had in pocket. He clutched at the soft, silky fabric of the shirt; never had he wanted to buy something this much. While deeply disappointed with himself for something completely out of his control, he fixated at the thought of Yukibo deserving someone much better than he could ever be. How could he think he deserved her when he could not even buy a shirt for her?

"What a creep," he heard a woman whisper.

He knew if he turned to look, he would meet those disgusted stares again. As calmly as he could, he released the shirt from his tight grip. However, she was still talking, "What is someone like that doing here anyways? Pervert." What _was_ he doing here? Dressed in his sweatshirt, sweatpants, and sandals, what gave him the right to step into an expensive boutique? It was a painful realization for him; having spent so much time with Yukibo made him forget how much of a creep he truly was in the eyes of others. He had neither money nor looks. Why did he think he could somehow blend into a society that did not even want him? This was why he was friends with cats.

Totoko had just finished purchasing almost a cart load of clothes, and then bounced up to him with bags of brand new clothes in each arm. She spouted gleefully, tearing him away from his brooding thoughts, "I'm on a roll! Let's go to another!" He was not in the mood to be reminded of how poor and disgusting he was.

Before he could tell the fish market girl that he was done, he saw a shirt that looked nothing like the pink button-up he ruined. A few feet away, a mannequin was wearing a black, short dress top, cut from the shoulder up. The body was solid black with a faint purple floral pattern in direct light and a sweetheart neckline. A dark mesh covered the rest of the torso just below the shoulder cut, which bridged the matching solid black and purple floral-patterned wrist cuffs. Within Ichimatsu's mind, he replaced the mannequin's plain face with Yukibo's, and seeing her in such an alluring shirt drove him insane. It made him fantasize about caressing her bare shoulders with the tips of his fingers, all the way up to her neck, and then her face. This was the shirt, regardless if it did not replace the torn shirt.

Without even looking at the price, he grabbed the one from the rack adjacent to the mannequin and stormed up to the clerk. The nervous worker scanned the item, and the price came down to being even more expensive than the button-up. Thwarted again by his own poverty, he felt humiliated.

"This top is too dark for my taste. You don't have to buy it for me," Totoko mentioned. The broke trash turned towards the fish idol with a dumbfounded look. Never had he mentioned once to her that he wanted to buy this for her. What made her think he was? Perhaps Totoko was just being her dumb self.

"I'm buying it for a girl I like, but I don't have the money for it right now," he mentioned.

The fish merchant's daughter froze stiff, at first wanting to pummel him into the floor, but she stopped herself out of selfish instinct. She needed Ichimatsu in order to become rich and live luxuriously, and if he was pursuing another woman, then she had to step up her game to keep him. "That rich American girl must not have given him any money yet", she thought, "but he should come into some money soon". Totoko was as persistent as she was gullible, and to show her interest in him, she decided, "Here, let me get that for you!" She would wear the shirt for him once he chose her over the other woman. However, Ichimatsu was as stupid as he was pathetic for letting Totoko buy the shirt for him without any concerns. "I'm such a nice person!" she giggled, thinking that her small act of kindness would bend him to her will.

The clerk bagged the shirt and handed it to the only male in the store. Still dumbfounded by Totoko's strange behavior, he responded, "Thank you."

"It was nothing at all!" she cheerfully smiled, "Let's get some coffee!" He could use a drink after such a tiresome day.

The two sat inside a café after already putting in their orders at the counter. Ichimatsu was clutching at the bag, protecting it with his life, and Totoko was smiling from across the table, thinking her small investment would pay off.

"Are you having fun? I'm having fun!" she told him, "I didn't expect being around a gloomy creep like you would make today pretty great, but I'm really happy I got to spend time with you. So, don't you think you should be dating me instead of that other girl you're seeing?" He almost wanted to laugh, but he was too astounded from such a ridiculous question. Comparing her to Yukibo was like comparing coal to diamond. Now her wild spending made sense. She wanted her money, which was typical of the rotten, selfish Totoko. However, dating him, the bridge to Yukibo, was not going to guarantee her any money. So why him out of the rest of the brothers?

He responded, "No way. I love her." Indeed, he loved her. Having only known her for not even a full week, his feelings deep within, though never outwardly expressed, never lied to him once. She was the only one who made him feel loved, wanted, and above all, human. It was foolish to accept these feelings so early in a blossoming relationship, but he truly loved her, every little bit about her. He could not imagine himself with anyone else, and there was no one else he would want to be with other than Yukibo.

"But, I really like you, Ichimatsu!" she blatantly lied, "I've liked you for a very long time, but I wasn't strong enough to admit it earlier. But, I'm telling you now. Please!"

It baffled the creep knowing what he was going to say next. The past version of him would never believe that the present version was about to reject Totoko, "I'm sorry. I don't feel the same way anymore."

Silence fell upon the table, and the waiter dropped off their drinks before waiting other tables. The fish idol would not touch her triple, venti, half-sweet, non-fat, caramel macchiato, but the unburnable trash happily sipped his green tea, thinking about a life with Yukibo.

"If you date me, I'll let you fuck me tonight," she told him out of desperation.

If this was just weeks earlier, he would have taken her offer in a heartbeat, but this only disgusted him. "Where the fuck is this coming from?" he spat.

The jig was up at this point for Totoko. Already in her late-twenties, she was not going to get any younger, and losing the opportunity of living rich and comfortably would be something she would regret for the rest of her life, even if it meant being married to one of the sextuplets. She had put up with too many setbacks and too many failures in her life. She deserved to be pampered for once. She deserved to be living the life of luxury, even if it was on someone else's dime.

Her honesty poured from her, "Look, Osomatsu told me you guys have a lot of money now because one of you is dating a rich American. He said you're the only one left who is still single, so come on, date me. You've known me for years!"

"Osomatsu told you?" he spoke in a calm yet sinister tone.

"Yes!" she replied, and then with her most seductive stare, she asked again, "So will you date me?"

He got up from his chair, clutching the bag tightly in his arms. He snarled, "You stupid bitch, I'm the one dating the rich American."

No one had ever called her a "bitch" before, and to hear someone as lowly as one of the Matsuno sextuplets, who previously adored and worshipped her ever since they were children, unleashed a blinded fury from her like no other. Just as he was about to leave her at the table, she got up and threw a powerful punch towards his solar plexus, but to her surprise, he caught her wrist, gripping it so tightly that it began to hurt her. Still enraged, she launched another jab with her weaker left arm, but again Ichimatsu caught it by her wrist and raised both arms at her head level. The bag with Yukibo's new shirt dropped at his side. The patrons stared at the dysfunctional couple, ready to call the police for a domestic dispute. Totoko struggled in his grip as her fury was being overshadowed by her fear. The look on his fourth sextuplets face was of pure, unbridled, inconsolable rage.

"Are you positive that Osomatsu put you up to this?" he spoke darkly, "Tell me the truth." She nodded cautiously, and he threw her wrists down. Picking up his bag, he stormed out of the café. That was all the confirmation he needed. Karamatsu was about to become the oldest brother of the quintuplets.

While seething silently, Ichimatsu arrived back home to his room, seeing his brothers playing poker. They were about to ask him about Totoko, but stopped themselves once they saw the look of unrelenting fury on his face. He stormed up to Osomatsu, dropping the bag by the entrance of his room.

"W-wait, Ichimatsu, let me explain!" the eldest stammered, but his younger brother grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

Without any words, he slammed his older brother against the wall, and threw a hard, rage-induced punch towards his face. His attacks were aimed to kill, which forced the other four to react. They quickly got up which knocked their table over, and tried to separate the two just before he was about to throw a fourth jab. It took all four to pry their dark brother from their oldest brother, and Jyushimatsu had difficulties subduing his older brother in a submission hold. To his surprise, the hulking rage Ichimatsu contained granted him super strength, and he broke out of his younger brother's unbreakable hold. He speared towards his eldest brother, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there. His older brother raised his hands to cover his bruised face from any more punches, but Ichimatsu grabbed his throat instead, squeezing the life out of him.

"BIG BROTHER ICHIMATSU, STOP! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Todomatsu screamed.

Karamatsu was forced to throw his arm around his younger brother's neck, putting him into a chokehold. The fourth brother's grip loosened, allowing Choromatsu to pry them off from his older brother's throat, and hold his younger brother in a strong bear hug to subdue his arms. However, Ichimatsu fought tooth and nail to be freed, and was kicking wildly. The two youngest brothers latched themselves on each leg, completely and securely immobilizing him. Osomatsu cautiously sat up as he rubbed his throat. Never had he seen nor felt such unbridled fury from this brother, or any of his brothers.

"WHY?" Ichimatsu screamed out, finally saying something, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?"

The other four looked at their eldest brother, confused as to why Ichimatsu was so furious with him so much so to want to kill him. They wondered if the reasoning behind him spending time with Totoko was all just part of Osomatsu's scheme.

"I LOVE YUKIBO! I ONLY LOVE HER! WHY WOULD YOU TELL TOTOKO I WAS SINGLE?" he screamed out. It was confirmed; Osomatsu was behind all of this. He really did live up to his name as "Liarmatsu" for lying about wanting Yukibo. How evil he was for trying to pawn Totoko off to his younger brother while he tried to take his girlfriend. This was a whole new level of cruelty their eldest brother had sunk into.

"Wow," the eldest spoke in a raspy tone, "So you really have changed."

"Oh, no," Karamatsu spoke out, "You're not weaseling out of this one. Tell us the truth. Were you trying to steal Yukibo away?"

"You idiot, it's not about that," the eldest replied, cupping his black eye, "Ichimatsu, you've been taking this chance of a lifetime way too lightly. How long do you think she'll be here in Japan?" The fourth brother stopped struggling, realizing that Yukibo was studying in Japan for only two years, and after that, she would return to the States. Would she stay for him or come back afterwards? "She doesn't have anything here," the eldest explained, "There's no reason for her to stay, not even for you. Therefore, you should be doing everything in your capabilities to get her to take you with her to America. Because once she leaves, I don't want you to fall even further into what you've been for the past ten years. Maybe I was just being stupid, but I thought maybe tricking Totoko would keep you feeling as confident as you are now, once Yukibo left." His eldest brother seemed pretty sure that Yukibo would not stay in Japan with him, and even he had to agree with him that there was nothing for her here. He wondered if he could he even survive being in another country. "I know it was pretty shitty of me to trick Totoko into dating you, but you have to understand. Your big brother has been worried about you since high school," he added, patting his fourth brother's head, "Yukibo is a godsend for you. She's going to change your life, and I wanted to make sure you were taking this just as seriously. I want you to be happy." He chuckled, as he revealed, "You really proved me wrong on this one. I'm really proud of you."

Tears streamed from all of his younger brothers' eyes. The five had never seen this level of sincerity and concern from their eldest brother, but it was refreshing and relieving to see that he still cared for all of them, even if he had a weird way to show it. They released the fourth brother, and Ichimatsu just stood there, trying to hold back his tears even though they were already streaming from his eyes.

"I love her so much," he muttered, "I don't want her to leave."

Osomatsu pulled him into an embrace, patting his back. "She'll leave you if you don't try harder," he told him, but then suggested, "You could knock her up though. That's always an option!" There he was. That was the true form of their eldest brother.

The fourth brother laughed, wiping his tears, "You idiot, I'm not going to do that."

"I said it was an option," the eldest grinned, "So, when are you seeing her again?"

"Tomorrow," he revealed, "I'm actually really nervous."

"Don't worry! All of us are going to help you out, right guys?" the eldest consoled. The other four nodded enthusiastically, patting and consoling their fourth brother.

"You deserve her, big brother Ichimatsu!" Todomatsu cheered sweetly.

Choromatsu praised, "This is your big chance. I'll help you every step of the way."

"Anything at all, I'll be there for you, _burazaa_!" Karamatsu assured.

"We're going to help you get a homerun with her!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, while he pulled his older brother into a bear hug.

"See, Ichimatsu?" the eldest grinned, "All five of us are going to help you knock her up. Then she'll have to keep you."

"Damn it," the fourth brother groaned, holding back his laughter, "Shut up."


	6. Chapter 6

It felt like days had passed even though it had only been a few hours. Evening could not come any sooner, as Ichimatsu vigilantly watched the clock pass time. It would still be another twenty minutes until Yukibo would arrive for their very first legitimate date. His brothers had spent hours prior, supporting him and drilling him on proper dating etiquette. Most of those hours were spent on talking him out of dressing like a j-rock star, and luckily for them, Ichimatsu was eventually convinced to go in his blue suit. However, the brothers' tips and tricks ended up being contradictory to one another, ranging from taking complete charge of the date, to completely submitting to her. He had not known her for even a week, and the more he thought about what he could do during their date, the more he realized how little he could do. The only common ground they had with one another was their passion for cats, but even he knew that that topic would eventually wear out its welcome. There was just nothing else he knew to converse about, and that made him nervous to point of panic. This kind of panic would keep him glued on the toilet, but there were no more nervous turds for him to push out to alleviate his anxiety. Because of his lack of interests, she was going to become bored of him, and there was no way he could talk to her about his only other interest, which was porn. However, she always responded more positively when he was more open and conversing with her, whether it was a topic he started or not. Therefore, as long as he kept talking and responding to her, then his date would go smoothly.

"Maybe, we should've put him in a dress," Osomatsu teased, "Aren't _you_ supposed to be the one to pick her up, Ichimatsu?"

He flustered, "We've already decided to meet at my house." Nervous sweats were starting to soak his suit. This wait was killing him. "I don't know if I can do this," he muttered.

"Are you serious?" Todomatsu groaned, "You already went out with her once."

"But, it wasn't a date. I just thought it was," the fourth brother replied.

"But, she still became your girlfriend. Seriously, what are you so nervous about?" Choromatsu huffed.

"I only liked her back then, but now it's completely different," he answered, while pulling his knees closer to his chest, "I love her now. I don't want to mess this up." If Yukibo had rejected him during their first encounter, he would have been able to overcome it eventually. Admittedly, he was infatuated at first sight, but he did not have high hopes in sprouting something more with her. However, seeing all the trust she put into him and how committed she was to him despite everything that he was, it warranted nothing but love, and it grew into something he never wanted to lose.

"I don't get it," the eldest sighed.

"Of course, you wouldn't. This is pure love!" Karamatsu announced, "You got this, _burazaa_!" The nervous brother was grateful to have one of his brothers support him.

"Where are you taking her to eat?" Jyushimatsu asked.

He went still, realizing that he had not decided on where to take her to dinner. From just his expression, the other sextuplets caught on that their madly-in-love brother had forgotten to pick a place.

Osomatsu spoke up, "Take her to an American restaurant. I bet she feels a little homesick, right, Ichimatsu?" Why would she want Japanese-made, American burgers when she had more authentic burgers back home?

"What are you talking about?" Choromatsu argued, "She came to Japan to experience the culture. She wants Japanese food." He already had sushi with her the last time they ate together. Plus, she had _shabu shabu_ with all of them just recently. America was a country with so many diverse culture and cuisines. She would probably want something different than Japanese food after all this time.

"Italian food is very romantic!" Todomatsu exclaimed, "I know a place where you can get someone there to serenade to her." Ichimatsu was not too familiar with Italian cuisine, and thus would seem like a bumbling stooge when trying to order.

"You should show her the essence of your soul in a home-cooked dinner!" Karamatsu suggested. For a split second, he relapsed into hating his second brother for his cringe-worthy suggestion. Besides, he was not much of a cook, aside from small dishes.

" _Oden_ sounds really good right now," Jyushimatsu mentioned. The older brother was pretty sure he suggested it more for himself rather than for him. There was no way he would bring a rich, high-class woman to a shabby place like Chibita's _oden_ stand.

His brothers argued amongst themselves, still unable to settle on a single food type. Yukibo was about to arrive at any moment, and watching his brothers bicker was not solving his dilemma. At this point, he was just going to listen to whoever was the loudest.

"Listen to your eldest brother!" Osomatsu shouted, raising his voice above the rest of his brothers' bickering, "Take her to eat American food. Worst thing she'll say is 'no', so it won't be all that bad!"

"Fine, I'll take her to an American restaurant," he replied. This solved one issue, but then raised another. Which American restaurant could he take her?

"McDonalds!" Osomatsu answered, as if he had been reading his younger brother's mind.

"Are you kidding me?" Choromatsu exclaimed.

"Wow, big brother Osomatsu, the one place that's literally at every corner in America?" Todomatsu laughed, "Thank God, you're not the one on a date."

"What? I told you she might feel homesick," the eldest brother argued, "You know, I'm just thinking about what's best."

"Hey, hey! Yukibo is here!" the hyperactive fifth brother yelled out by the window, and reverted back to wave his arms sporadically at the girl below.

The other five scrambled towards the window to see a beautiful girl in a glossy, garnet bubble dress that was short enough to show that she had legs for days. It was an especially chilly night, and so she wore a thick, black overcoat that was just a little shorter than her dress, which matched the shimmering black heels. Her hair was pulled up and locked in a styled bun by a studded, sparkling hair clamp, and somehow, she still managed to keep her left ear hidden while only exposing her right ear. Her eyes linked with the boys on the second floor, and she smiled widely, piercing all of their hearts. Too captivated by her, they almost did not even notice the full grocery bags she had in each hand as she entered their house. For just a brief moment, the other five brothers wanted her as well, but Osomatsu's lingering black eye was a definite reminder of their protective fourth brother's wrath. All five quickly shoved the thoughts behind them.

"Ichimatsu!" the jealous second brother screamed and gripped onto his brother's suit collar, " _RAKKII BOI_! YOU'RE A _RAKKII BOI_!" The jealousy seeped from Karamatsu so much so that his lower lip was quivering as much as his hands were. Glamorous American girls were actually his type, and so it was understandable why the second brother was expressing his jealousy so openly. "You better treat her like the goddess she is!" the older brother commanded, "I'm counting on you!" Did he just openly admit to wanting to vicariously date Yukibo through his younger brother?

"Ah! Yukibo! Welcome back! Oh, look at how lovely you look," the brothers heard their mother speak from downstairs, "What do you have there?"

"I brought you some groceries to save you a trip to the market. I hope you accept them, Mrs. Matsuno," Yukibo replied handing the mother the two bags of groceries.

"Oh, sweety, you shouldn't have," she accepted and was stunned to see what was inside. One bag held fresh fruits and vegetables, and also bags of various mushrooms. The other bag had three gift boxes of Spam, totaling eighteen cans of Spam, and also four foam plates containing two plastic-sealed, raw, juicy steaks. Their mother's mouth was agape from shock. It was a lot of food, and the meats were very expensive.

The father walked in to see the commotion. "Oh! It's good to see you again, Yukibo," he greeted, then saw his wife shakily holding the opened bag of groceries, "How nice of you to bring groceries for us. My wife works so hard raising and feeding our _six adult sons_." He enunciated when mentioning his sons, glaring up the stairs. After taking a peek inside, he almost lost color in his face at the sheer amount of expensive food that was provided for them.

"Yukibo, sweetheart, are you sure about all of this?" the mother finally was able to speak, "It's so much."

"It's alright, really. It must be difficult to raise six boys in one household," she replied and blushed a bit, "I only want to make things a little easier for you, Mrs. Matsuno."

"Call me 'mom', my sweet Yukibo," she cooed, caressing the girl's head.

"I'd really like it if you call me 'dad' as well, my little girl," the father rubbed her back.

Their sons were watching from the stairs, and were in awe as their parents fawned over the foreign girl. There was a slight bit of jealousy, and some of them recalled a slight incident with a seventh brother of whom they will never mention.

"Yukibo, ask your parents if they don't mind taking in our sons. You can stay here with us," their mother brought up.

"Having a bright daughter in medical school is something I can only dream of," the father added.

She flustered, "You speak so highly of me. I'm embarrassed."

"Are you sure about Ichimatsu? I mean, he's a good boy. They all are really, but Choromatsu is much more stable," the father mentioned, making it obviously clear that he wanted to keep Yukibo in the family.

"Even Todomatsu is secure! At least he has a job!" the mother vouched.

The third and sixth brother high-fived one another in glee, patting themselves on the back for being the best Matsus according to their parents. However, a suffocating dark aura was present behind them and gripped both their shoulders tightly.

"So, you two think you're better than me?" Ichimatsu asked threateningly.

"N-not at all!" his third brother dodged.

"They said it, not us!" his youngest brother cried out.

Before he could even come up with a punishment for his brothers, Yukibo replied politely, "Ichimatsu and I have a very special connection. I hope you'll understand soon." Her tone showed disparagements of their parents trying to pawn off their other sons on her. They were slightly ashamed of themselves for behaving that way and for belittling their most troubled son. "So, is Ichimatsu ready?" she asked.

The mother snapped from her thoughts and sternly called down her fourth son, "Ichimatsu! Don't make your date wait!"

Yukibo's words should have been more than enough to boost the dark brother's self-confidence, but in a sudden shift, he reverted back into being the terrified, socially awkward creep, hiding back inside their room. The five other brothers found him in his favorite corner again with his knees tightly pressed against his chest. He only immitted a droning groan in response, unable to express that he felt unworthy. His own parents tried to pawn off his brothers to her, and she just mentioned about some "special connection" they suddenly have. How could he live up to that expectation she has of him when he was nothing like his more "successful" brothers? This was just too much pressure for him to bear, knowing that his entire family was counting on him to hit it off with her.

"What are you doing? She's waiting for you downstairs!" Karamatsu scolded, trying to pull him up.

"Fuck it," Osomatsu spat, and helped his second brother lift his fourth brother from the ground.

"Ichimatsu!" the father yelled out. The two oldest brothers tossed him down the stairs, where he tumbled down the steps and landed on his face at the bottom.

"Ah! Are you okay?" the girl quickly went to his aid, and helped him up. Though in pain from being thrown down the stairs, he still could not respond to her. Like a deer in headlights, he only stared as she dusted his suit while his mouth was just slightly agape. Gently and lovingly, she placed her hand on his face helping him close his mouth. The feel of her soft and warm hands on his face was snapping him out of his catatonic state. Her genuine smile got him to stop shaking as her overflowing confidence was seeping into him.

"Mm," he nodded, still too mesmerized by her to speak with words.

"This is how you present yourself? Couldn't you at least fix your hair a little better?" his mother nagged at him, while trying to even out his hair. It had been years since his mom actually groomed him, and it felt nice to feel her hands through his hair. His dad placed something in his pocket, and when he looked to see what it was, he discovered twenty thousand yen. The father patted him on the back, and for once after so long, he looked like he was proud of him. The feeling of his entire family supporting him almost brought him to tears. Years of negligence and apathy was being chipped away as he realized that they really wanted him to be happy. Yukibo gave all this to him.

A bag hit the back of Ichimatsu's head. He turned back, about to yell at his brothers, but realized that it was the new shirt he got her. He had almost completely forgotten about her gift. Quickly, he picked it up from the floor, and offered it to his date.

"Uh, I'm sorry about the other night," he mentioned, trying to keep it vague so his family would not catch on, "I hope this makes up for it."

Her eyes sparkled as she accepted the bag, and she asked, "Can I look inside?"

He flustered, "I-I'd rather you open it at home." After tucking her hair behind her ear, she nodded to show her understanding.

The other five were still watching from upstairs. "It's just a shirt," Osomatsu muttered to himself. The other four turned towards him, surprised to see their eldest brother talking with himself as if he was trying to solve something. Of course, Osomatsu had already peeked inside the bag. All five of them had out of curiosity. However, it was puzzling why the oldest seemed so invested and focused with Ichimatsu's relationship. Ichimatsu had promised his eldest brother that he would treat his relationship with Yukibo more seriously, so why would Osomatsu keep his nose in their business?

The couple left the house, waving back to Ichimatsu's family who was telling him over and over again, "Good luck" and "Have fun". Once they were gone, both parents looked back at the rest of their girlfriendless sons with a straight face.

"When is it your turn?" the mother asked, as she put the groceries away.

Osomatsu grinned, "When the next rich, foreign girl shows up."

The father sighed, "So, never."

The other five brothers entered the kitchen to gawk at all the food Yukibo bought them in guise of helping their mother store them away. The steaks looked so full and succulent; it was something that the brothers were only able to have a few times a year.

"Can we eat the steaks tonight?" Jyushimatsu asked.

"Those steaks are for Ichimatsu," the mother scolded, storing them in the freezer.

"You can't mean all of them!" the third brother whined, "There's eight! One for each of us!"

"Steaks are for people with futures," the father lectured, "If you want one then you should find yourself a job and move out!" Even though nothing was set in stone for him, the parents already assumed that Ichimatsu would end up moving to the States with Yukibo, and live out the rest of his life comfortable and happy. But most importantly, he would be out of their home. It was too soon to assume that things would go well for him, but their parents were counting on him to succeed, even if it meant marrying into money and becoming a househusband. At least one of their sons should become an actual adult.

"Then, what are we going to eat for dinner?" Karamatsu asked, frowning at the steaks being stored away.

"Go eat _oden_ at Chibita's or something," the mother replied coldly. The sextuplets were actually hurt at how cold their mother was towards them. It was not the first time she was like this, but it hurt all the same, especially coming from their mother.

"You got it, mom!" Osomatsu exclaimed, and hurriedly pushed his younger brothers out of the house. He was up to something again.

"Do we even have any money for _oden_?" Todomatsu wondered as he checked his pockets.

"Chibita's opens late. We can get some later," the eldest brother spoke out. He can still see the couple off in the distance heading in the direction of the subway station. "Let's follow them," he suggested.

"What kind of scheme are you planning now?" the third brother asked in an irked tone. Perhaps Osomatsu had not learned from his near death experience the day before. That shiner on his face was a dire reminder for the younger brothers, but perhaps since the eldest could not see his own face frequently, his pea brain had forgotten what had given him that black eye to begin with. In all seriousness, what could he possibly gain from spying and interfering with their terrifying brother's very first date?

The eldest answered candidly, "It's not a scheme. I want to know how the hell Ichimatsu landed someone like that! Him of all people! Aren't you guys a little curious, too?"

It was agreed amongst all six of them that Ichimatsu was the worst off. His overall creepy and menacing demeanor had warded off any social contact except from feral cats, rendering him a complete and utter outcast in society. He could fade away, and no one would be the wiser. It was definitely not his ugly mug; none of the sextuplets were good-looking in the slightest. Like the rest of them, he had no job, no education, and no social skills, and so, it was an enigma towards the other jobless, virgin brothers on how he managed to pique the interest of someone who was the polar opposite of him. What the hell did Yukibo see in him that was not in the rest of them?

The younger brothers agreed to take part in their eldest's new scheme, letting curiosity and jealousy take the best of them. "Maybe we might learn something from this," the eldest grinned, scratching the bottom of his nose. Whether it was learning how to talk to women or about something even more deeply buried within their fourth brother, the other five sextuplets were prepared for their lesson.

The five cherry brothers kept a close yet safe distance from their fourth brother and his date. Luckily for them, he was very much distracted with the pretty girl beside him more so than his surroundings. It was legitimately their first date, but she boldly had her arms in his as they walked down into the subway station. Jealousy seethed within the other five spies, secretly wishing for a girl at Yukibo's level wrapping her arms around theirs. Their creep brother exhibited the same reactions as the rest of the brothers would have had: fluster and sweat uncontrollably. If he was not doing anything special, then what was so special about him?

As the couple waited for the train heading into the city, Ichimatsu apologized, "Sorry for making you take the train all the way here just to take it back to the city."

"It's alright. I told you already, I wanted to drop off a small gift for your family first," she assured, loosening her grip on his arm to entwine her fingers with his. His knees almost buckled, but he kept his composure, trying his damn hardest to look cool and calm for her.

"A-are you h-hungry right now?" he asked, unable to look her in the eyes for long.

She tucked her hair behind her ear so sweetly as she replied, "Not really. I have too much butterflies in my stomach right now." This was the first time Ichimatsu saw her so bashful. Perhaps she was as nervous as he was, but that seemed so out of character of her. Despite that, it made her even cuter than ever.

"I feel that way, too," he responded, while smiling at the fact that a girl like her felt nervous around him of all people.

"This is actually kind of cute to watch," Todomatsu mentioned, "Never seen big brother Ichimatsu like this before."

"Big brother Ichimatsu is actually being really cute," Jyushimatsu added.

Karamatsu grasped at the air and pulled it close to his chest as he explained, "It's true love! Yukibo clearly feels the same way Ichimatsu feels towards her."

"So something did happen that night," the eldest continued muttering to himself.

"What are you talking about, big brother Osomatsu?" Choromatsu asked.

The eldest grinned and shrugged it off, "Nothing, just thinking."

"You don't _think_ ," the third brother stared suspiciously.

"Yeah, yeah," the eldest brushed off as he resumed spying on the couple.

"We could walk around Shinjuku Central Park for a bit," she suggested, still acting quite bashful, "I heard there was a rare flower blooming there. Is that something you might be interested in?"

He would go anywhere with her, because _she_ was what he was interested in. It did not matter if it was a museum, or an amusement park, or even just an empty room. As long as he was with her, he was always engaged. "Let's go. I haven't been there in a long time," he agreed, which made her smile.

Once the train arrived, the couple entered the cart in front of them, and the five other voyeurs took an adjacent cart. Separated by the door connecting one cart to another, the dateless brothers could only watch the couple on mute. Their brother and his date looked to be in the middle of a very engaging conversation, and the rest of them wondered what they were talking about.

"Wait, so there was a cat in your apartment the entire time we were…" he trailed off, trying to suppress the memory of the steamy exchange they had all those nights ago before he sprung another half chub from the thought of it.

"Yep, his name's Hadrian. I was surprised at how quiet he was the entire time. He's usually so needy," she giggled, "What about your friends in the alley? What are their names?"

"Their names are Nao, Makoto, and Tsuyoshi," Ichimatsu answered obediently.

She tucked her hair behind her ear once more before responding, "Interesting. You named them, 'honest', 'sincere', and 'strong'. Was that something you wanted in a person or something you wanted for yourself?"

He never realized he subconsciously named them with those meanings hidden within. Feeling like a stray cat for more than ten years, it can only be assumed that those names were meant for him. "I guess more so for me," he revealed, feeling a little embarrassed.

"You want to know what I think?" she asked. Still a little ashamed from letting his insecurities slip so early in their date, he was prepared to hear whatever disapproval she was waiting to tell him. "You were _honest_ enough to tell me how you really feel. You were _sincere_ enough to show me that you meant every word. In the end, that shows how _strong_ you really are."

Flustering uncontrollably, his eyes darted back and forth as he tried to put together a response from his stammering. "D-don't say s-stuff like that a-about m-me," he stuttered as he sunk lower and lower into his seat, "I-I'm nothing l-like th-that at all. I m-mean, l-look at me now. I-I'm practically f-falling apart r-right in front of y-you." Blubbering like the virgin he still was, the strength that she claimed he had was slipping away from him. Even through her compliments, he was being broken apart. He finally took a deep breath after stammering, and coherently added, "I've already messed this up, didn't I?"

"We're still on a date, right?" she asked, and he nodded in agreement, "So you haven't messed up at all!" Her sweet smile coupled with her averting gaze brought nothing but warmth for the blubbering creep. "If you keep being nervous, you're going to make me nervous as well," she mentioned. All their previous encounters had him sweating and whimpering as much or maybe even far more than now, but not once had she seemed nervous in the slightest. As she squeezed his hand in hers, he learned to appreciate how affectionate Yukibo was towards him. Until he finally felt it, he never realized how much he really needed a woman's touch. The feel of her hand on his was already the best feeling he had ever felt, until he remembered when they kissed a few nights ago. As he stared intently at her glossy lips, he really wanted to feel those lips again.

The couple got off the bullet train near Shinjuku Central Park, and the other five brothers followed closely but quietly behind. The park was surprisingly crowded with tourists on tour, families having a night out, and other couples also on their dates. A well-dressed, clean cut guy brought a full bouquet to his glamorous, diamond-covered date. The sight of it made Ichimatsu grimace since all he had for her was a new shirt that he was not even sure she would like. Seeing her clutch her gift in her hands made him feel nervous, scared, and thrilled all at once. The other sextuplets had noticed that many of the girls on their dates had flowers given to them by their boyfriends, and at that point they decided that their lucky brother needed a bouquet for his date. Fortunately, this park had many different flowers scattered about that they can pick and makeshift into a bouquet. Osomatsu agreed to watch the couple while the other four scavenged for flowers. The youngest found lovely _Pentas lanceolatas_ of varying colors, the third brother found some beautiful white hydrangea, and the fifth brother found adorable canola flowers matching the color of his sweatshirt.

The second brother wanted to find the most unique of all the flowers in the park, and searched tirelessly, moving further and further away from the rest of the brothers. He then stumbled across a strange, phallic looking flower, growing on a rock. It was a rather large flower, standing tall and erect at about a foot. Most of the length was its stem, but the very tip was soft red petals curled into a dipped dome. It was nothing like he had ever seen before, but it had a sweet, tantalizing aroma.

"This flower is the perfect edition to the bouquet!" he thought to himself, and grabbed the shaft-like stem of the flower. The stem was covered in a sweet-smelling, viscous fluid that was sticky to touch but slippery when rubbed. He tugged, but the flower did not get picked, and so he tugged harder and harder and harder, but the flower remained attached and erect. Karamatsu continuously tugged at the flower, his hands shifting from top to bottom on its shaft. It was growing more and more frustrating to pick this flower, and he expressed it with heavy, tired grunts after every pull. His other three flower-picking brothers overheard the growingly loud grunts, and they saw what looked like their second brother jerking off a rock.

"B-big brother Karamatsu! What are you doing? Stop that!" Choromatsu yelled out, his face as red as a tomato.

"Yukibo needs this flower, and I will give it to her!" the second brother replied with determination.

The commotion they were making caused a crowd to form, and so the third and sixth brother tried their best to cover up the scene. Once Karamatsu realized that a crowd had formed, it was only then he noticed that his lewd tugging on a phallic looking flower made him seem like some weird pervert. However, when he tried pulling away, he saw that his hands were now stuck to the sticky shaft of the flower. Jyushimatsu tried freeing his older brother by reaching behind him and holding onto his waist, but even his unbridled strength was not enough to pull the flower. Instead, the situation evolved into one man dry-humping another man jerking off a rock. They were still grunting at every tug, embarrassing their other brothers. Osomatsu ran in trying to stop the crowd from forming, and his face was red with embarrassment.

"Knock it off, you two! Holy shit," Osomatsu gritted his teeth, trying to hide his face in the hood of his red sweatshirt. Once he saw the crowd grow larger and larger, the eldest realized the situation had grown completely out of his control. Without a way to stop it, he escaped the scene, not wanting to get caught by his dangerous fourth brother. Choromatsu and Todomatsu caught onto their eldest's plan, and booked it with him, leaving the flowers they collected behind. However, Karamatsu and Jyushimatsu were too focused on getting free to realize that they were the only two left.

Ichimatsu and Yukibo noticed that a crowd had formed behind them, and curious of the situation, the two decided to check out what was happening. The couple were quite surprised to see two of the other sextuplets jerking off a flower on a rock. However, the fourth brother was absolutely mortified from realizing that his brothers, the only two he liked, had followed him all the way here. He did not know what he was more upset about: catching his brothers spying on him, or Yukibo witnessing how embarrassing they could really be.

"What the FUCK are you two doing here?" he nearly screamed his lungs out. Looking back at Yukibo, he told her, "Wait here, I'm going to take care of this."

Karamatsu and Jyushimatsu stopped tugging once they saw Ichimatsu storm up to them with the look of cold-blooded murder on his face. Fear begged the two to run, but all they could do was hesitantly step back until he had both of them by their collar. With the other three gone, no one was there to hold back their dark brother's wrath.

"Wait! Ichimatsu, don't!" Yukibo shouted, quickly catching up to him.

Without restraint, he snapped at her, "God damn it! Can't you listen for once? I told you to wait!" He realized what he just did. Lashing out at the woman he loved again and again, it was only a matter of time before she lashed back at him. He gritted his teeth, waiting for her to snap back.

She stood between him and his brothers, with her hands on her hips. After a sigh, she responded, "You've known your brothers for how long now? It's obvious that they were trying to help."

Her patience surpassed even that of a monk's. How could she react so calmly towards him after all the times he had snapped at her? She gestured towards the picked flowers on the ground that Choromatsu and Todomatsu left behind when they made their escape. Even Jyushimatsu's flowers were scattered just a foot away from the group. The fourth brother was now embarrassed of himself for letting his defensiveness get carried away.

"I'm sure you weren't aware, but you should never touch the stem of this flower," she told his brothers as she pulled out a water bottle in her purse, "The stem of the _Throbbular shafticus_ is very adhesive. Water will fix it, but I think you guys have really irritated it with all that… stroking." She poured water on Karamatsu's hands, and he could already feel the stickiness in his palms wash away. "Before you let go, do it slow-" Yukibo was about to warn, but the second brother had already yanked his hands off the flower causing it to expel sweet-smelling, white liquid onto the four of them. It blasted on their faces and their clothes, and out of satisfaction, the flower went limp.

The brothers looked at themselves in disgust for being covered in practically flower semen. If the date was not ruined before with Ichimatsu snapping at her, then it was definitely ruined now. Though it was disgusting for the boys to be covered in white fluids, seeing Yukibo covered in it had them feeling something else. She looked just like any other woman in their AVs and _hentais_ , looking so lewd covered in those fluids. Her shocked expression shifted as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth so erotically. The image would be burned into the minds of Ichimatsu, Karamatsu, and Jyushimatsu. However, that lewd expression was just for a sneeze, and then another sneeze followed, and then another. She had sneezed seven times in a row, and then the boys realized that she was allergic to whatever that flower spewed on them.

With his long sleeves and high dexterity, Jyushimatsu quickly wiped off all the white goo as best as he could from her face, hair, and dress. There was still some residue left behind, but her sneeze attacks lessened dramatically.

"Thank you, Jyushimatsu," she thanked before sneezing again, and with a big smile, he patted her on the head with his non-soiled sleeve. The two older brothers learned well from their younger brother to take quick initiative for a woman in need. After all, Jyushimatsu was the only one who had a girlfriend, even if it was for a short while.

The fifth brother picked up the canola flowers he dropped and pushed them into the fourth brother's hands. "Don't get short with her anymore," the younger brother warned, "You really want to spend as much time with her while you still can. Take it from me." Remembering how devastated his younger brother was when that girl he liked, Homura, left him behind, the fear of losing Yukibo grew even more terrifying. There was no room for him to behave the way he does if he wanted to keep her. She could disappear in an instant if he ever faltered like that again.

"Thanks," he spoke softly.

With his gaping smile, the younger brother responded with a brotherly hug, mixing his white fluids with his brother's. Karamatsu also joined in, and his white goo was also mixing and messing up the dating brother's suit with the flower spew. The crowd quickly dissipated since the scenario of three grown men covered in white liquid and hugging it out grew too weird, even for them. The brothers apologized to him for spying, admitting to him that they were just a little jealous, and wished him good luck.

As they left the couple alone, Karamatsu faced his little brother and asked, "You really took charge in that moment. I've never seen that side of you."

"I really want Ichimatsu to be happy," the younger brother replied.

The older brother chuckled, acting cool while toying with his own hair, "You and me both, _burazaa_." Though the two were satisfied from helping out their fourth brother, they were even more satisfied from the image of Yukibo covered in white spew. Blood dripped from their noses as they made their way home.

Ichimatsu, with the canola flowers in hand, cautiously walked up to Yukibo still recovering from her chain of sneezes. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I'm… I'm still not use to this." She looked like she wanted to say something, but her sneezes kept interrupting her. Her eyes have watered so much that it went red, and the wetness ruined her makeup, making it seem like she had been sobbing for hours.

"Are you hungry?" she managed to ask, disregarding what he just said.

"Uh," he stammered, unsure if she was upset with him or not, "Yeah."

"Did you pick a place already?" she questioned, letting out another sneeze after.

He grew uneasy and concerned that she was ignoring the issue, but he was unable to address it out of fear of ruining this date further, "Are you okay with American food?"

Her watery eyes brightened, "You want American food? That sounds great!"

Immediate relief came when he saw her smiling and acting excited. Perhaps, she just wanted the date to go smoothly from here on out. "I don't know any American restaurants though," he mentioned.

"That's fine. I know a place," she smiled, letting out another sneeze, "Before we go, let me use the bathroom so I can clean up a bit."

He nodded, "Yeah, I should clean up, too." He tossed the canola flowers in the garbage, knowing she was allergic to flowers anyway.

Once they went into their respected restrooms, the unburnable trash washed his face and hair, trying to get every little bit of flower spew off of him. Washing off the fluids from his suit left him with wet stains. It was debatable whether or not they were better than the white crusty stains. Regardless, he still looked like a mess even though he spent all day gussying himself up as best as he could. His very first date was in shambles. Any normal girl would have easily gotten up and left, and then the thought came to him: what if she was leaving right now? He bolted out of the men's restroom and rushed into the women's. When he stepped in, the two other women with Yukibo screamed and dashed out of the restroom. However, Ichimatsu could not care less about them, once he saw Yukibo with fresh makeup on her gorgeous face, looking at him with a puzzled expression, he felt relieved and also embarrassed.

"Did something happen?" she asked, putting her lip gloss in her purse.

"No, I, um," he trailed, unable to explain why he barged into the women's restroom. She walked towards him, putting a hand tenderly on his face. Her eyes were still red and puffy from sneezing uncontrollably, but there was no white fluid in sight anywhere on her body, not even water stains from cleaning them.

"I'm still here," she told him, trailing her hand past his ear as she guided him out of the restroom. He followed her like a balloon on a string. As long as she was still with him, he was content.

They took a taxi to the Hard Rock Café that was stationed in Tokyo, and it was packed with tourists mostly from the States. Once they were inside, the host happily greeted Yukibo, but his expression changed slightly but noticeably when he saw her with Ichimatsu. There was something off about a pretty girl in a lovely dress with puffy red eyes, and an unkempt, malicious-looking male in a stained suit. Even other patrons noticed, giving them harsh stares and whispering among themselves. This was hurting him. They were seeing him as this monster that would abuse her physically or mentally to the point where her redden eyes were begging others for help. The other patrons truly thought he was preying on Yukibo, but perhaps he was, since he had just verbally lash out at her.

Once they were seated, Ichimatsu stared at the menu, squinting his eyes as he tried to understand it. Despite there being Japanese names and descriptions, he still had no idea what to order. There were much more than just burgers on the menu, which was all he knew about American cuisine. He felt so embarrassed and regretting picking American food when he barely knew anything about it.

"Ichimatsu, let me handle it," Yukibo told him as she pushed down the menu in his hands. He was relieved, but still embarrassed.

It was unclear to him if he was still hearing everyone else talking down to him about a piece of trash being with a goddess, about how he brutalized her so much that her eyes are still red and puffy from his abuse. Not that it was not true, the fact was that he had lashed out, but he did not mean to. He loved her; he never wanted to hurt her.

The waiter stopped by to take their order, but Yukibo was speaking to him in perfect, flawless English. He had almost forgotten that Yukibo was foreign. The two were speaking to each other so fast, and he could not understand a word she and the waiter were saying. It made him feel separated from her when she spoke English so fluidly to another person. Being alienated by a language barrier was just too much for him. Fortunately, it did not last long, but the waiter gave him a stern look as he passed by him. That was the final straw.

"I didn't hurt her!" he yelled out in restaurant, forcing all the patrons and employees to stare, "Yeah, I'm garbage. I'm human waste, unburnable trash! I don't deserve to be with a girl as amazing as her. But I didn't hurt her! I love her!"

Silence befell upon the restaurant where majority stared in confusion and fear that a man was having some sort of mental breakdown. Half of them could not even understand the Japanese words coming from him. He looked back at Yukibo who was dumbfounded by his outburst. She kept her cool as she was tucking her hair behind her ear. If his outbursts continued, the police could get involved.

"He didn't hurt me at all!" Yukibo yelled out, as she got up, "He couldn't hurt me even if he tried! I'd demolish him!" Surprised that she was backing him on his embarrassing outburst, he felt even closer to her. She was not upset with him at all, despite snapping at her earlier. Nothing but relief and joy emanated from him, so much so that her put-down did not even faze him.

"That's right!" he said, almost laughing to himself, "I'm a weak, pathetic man!"

"I don't approve of such snobbish behavior in a restaurant, just because he's a poor man. I think we'll take our business elsewhere," she mentioned, guiding him out of the restaurant. He did not mean to force them to leave, but he was glad that Yukibo was still sticking by him. It reminded him just how much he did not want to lose her.

The couple ended up eating at a McDonald's, clearly overdressed, but still enjoying themselves with Big Macs and fries. He watched her rummage through her purse, and she pulled out a small gift of her own.

"I almost forgot to give this to you. I was going to at the park, but you know," she smiled, passing him the gift box. It was a rather small box, wrapped in cat-printed wrapping paper and a purple bow.

He lost count at how many times this girl shocked him, but he quickly responded, "You've given me so much. I can't possibly accept this."

"Please, it means a lot if you take this," she told him, passing him the present. He thanked her, and was about to put it away, but she spoke up, "Open it here! I want to see your face when you see it."

He was surprised and curious as to what it could be. After opening the taped side and glancing underneath the wrapping paper, he realized that this was a brand new smart phone, the latest and possibly most expensive model.

"I-I-I can't accept this," he told her again, giving her back the phone. There was no way he could ever top a gift as grand as this. With no money and no job, and the fact that the girl in front of him already had everything, there was just nothing he could contribute. All he could do was give her his love and admiration.

"I just wanted to be able to talk to you when we aren't together," she said to him, "You know, when I'm at school and such. I know you're not good at talking about your feelings, but you do a good job at writing them. I think it's quite a step up from those dumpster messages we left each other back then, right?" Gift after gift, she was slowly piecing together his life for him. Out of all of his brothers, he was given the opportunity to claim a social life, to connect with society through an expensive phone. How could he ever repay her?

"Thank you," he said in defeat, reclaiming the phone. Once he had the device in his hand, he felt a strange sense of connection. It booted up, and gave him access to the menu.

"Do you still have my number?" she asked. He shook his head, admitting to having eaten it to prevent his brothers from catching wind of her. She laughed wholeheartedly, and offered to put in her number into his phone. He complied, and even took a cute picture of her for his contacts. "Try calling me," she suggested, already pulling her phone out. He called her, putting device by his ear, and she answered, putting hers by her ear. "I'm really happy to hear from you," she said to him, and he heard her from in-person and through the phone, "You make me happy." It still made no sense why she was doing any of this for him, but Ichimatsu was possibly even happier than she was. He was indebted to her for life.

"I didn't mean what I said when I snapped at you," he told her over the phone, "I'm glad you didn't listen and stopped me. You pretty much saved my brothers." She kept the phone by her ear, listening to his every word. "You don't have to put up with me. Yell at me if you have to," he begged.

"Idiot," she spoke, "I already knew what I was getting into when I agreed to date you. I already told you, I want to bring out the best in you." Still, he had no idea what warranted this practically unconditional love. "Whenever you lash out, you're not hurting me. You're only hurting yourself," she explained, "I don't want you to hurt anymore."

"Yukibo," he gritted his teeth, holding back tears to save his dignity, despite being covered in flower fluids and water stains. She had been sitting across from him before, but as she left her phone on her end, she got up to sit beside him. He felt her gentle hands cup his face as she pulled it up to face hers. Despite her eyes still being red from the incessant sneezing, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Tenderly, she placed her forehead on his, which immediately put him at peace. He could die in her arms a happy man.

"I know you're a good person," she whispered. He did not want to disappoint her anymore. It was time for him to become a man. With her face so close, his lips quivered, wanting to be placed on hers even in a public place like this. He could kill a thousand men just to get a kiss from her. But, she pulled away, leaving him feeling a bit robbed. "This was a very memorable date. It'll be a really funny story in the future," she told him with a sweet smile.

He thought the date had been salvaged even though it had gone completely out of control. Yukibo had been positive and polite the entire night, but perhaps even she had her limits. Who would kiss a man that ruined their date anyway? "What a night," he replied, feeling ashamed of himself.


	7. Chapter 7

As time reached thirty minutes till noon, the cat-loving brother placed his brand-new phone down on the armrest of the couch in their room, and got up to go feed his friends the premium bag of cat food he still had. If only the cats had phones of their own, then he could leave messages and calls for them. Still not completely use to possessing a smart phone, Ichimatsu had left it behind, unguarded and defenseless in a room full of bored men. The rest of his brothers were lounging about as they normally do: Osomatsu was reading one of his _mangas_ while eating chips, Karamatsu was caring for his hair, Choromatsu was looking through the classifieds, Jyushimatsu was just on his back staring at the ceiling, and Todomatsu was on his laptop. However, the eldest brother could not stop taking glances at his fourth brother's new phone, even when he was actively reading his new book. Letting his frustrations take over once again, he got up from the floor and snatched the phone off the couch. His idiot fourth brother had not even put a lock or passcode on it.

"Big brother Osomatsu!" the youngest yelled out, "What are you doing?" The other brothers also turned towards their eldest, giving him their disapproving stares.

"This is such a cool phone," the eldest responded, swiping through the apps, "Look how cute Yankee-bo is. He's so lucky! I hate him to death!" Seeing Yukibo in the gallery sparked an idea in the eldest's mind. His bored itch was about to get scratched. He started texting her, sounding out what he was texting, "Can't stop thinking about you. Send me a sexy picture."

"Big brother Osomatsu!" Choromatsu yelled out, trying to stop him from sending that text, but it was sent by the time he reacted, "Why are you making it so hard for Ichimatsu? I thought you wanted him to hit it off with her?"

"It's just a joke!" the eldest laughed, "Besides, she's clearly crazy about him. She bought him a- OOOH!" He screamed out mid-sentence when she replied with a picture of her up close to the camera. Her head was tilted down, but she was looking up into the camera. It was adorable, yet so seductive. " _NAISU_!" he grinned, peaking the curiosity of his younger brothers. Once they saw the picture, they could not help but to fluster as well.

"T-That's enough," the third brother managed to form words after gawking at that picture, but his oldest brother was not done yet.

"Take a picture of something lower," he texted, ending it with a heart emoticon.

"Why are you making me have these impure thoughts of our brother's girlfriend?" Karamatsu asked, shaking his older brother, but even he could not deny it, "I truly am a sinful man. I want to see something lewd from Yukibo, too!"

"Shut up! She's responding," Osomatsu waited eagerly.

She replied, "You're so bold. You shouldn't be asking me to do lewd things like that," and added a blushing emoticon face at the end. The eldest sighed, and the other four brothers were sort of relieved. "Osomatsu," she added at the end, shocking all five brothers.

"H-How?" he asked while shakily holding the phone. All the sextuplets were perverts. Any one of them could have sent that message to her, even Ichimatsu, and yet she still knew it was him. He wondered what gave him away. Still shaking, he passed the phone to Todomatsu, "How the hell did she know it was me?"

"You kind of gave it away when you asked lewd stuff from her," Jyushimatsu mentioned.

The youngest agreed, "Yeah, you're really predictable, pervert." As he texted her, he sounded out, "Sorry about that. My big brother is a pervert, but the rest of us aren't like that at all! Don't get mad at us, please!" He sent the apology, but froze stiff when he read her response.

"You shouldn't apologize for your older brother, Todomatsu. He's a grown man," she wrote.

"That's so scary! How does she know?" he wondered as he gritted his teeth, "I'm not that predictable, am I?"

Karamatsu took the phone next, and said, "You apologized in that sly way you always do. You guys are way too predictable." He texted her, " _Guddo jyobu_! Osomatsu and Todomatsu are still shaking."

"Are you shaking too, Karamatsu?" she responded, and he shoved the phone into Jyushimatsu's hands, unable to speak upon how spooked he was.

The fifth brother texted, "How about me?"

"Jyushimatsu!" she responded with a smiling face emoticon at the end.

"Yay!" he cheered, giving it to Choromatsu.

"This is Choromatsu. Sorry that my brothers were bothering you. It won't happen again," he texted.

"Wait, wait," Osomatsu stopped, "Reply with your best Karamatsu impression, but still say that it's you."

"Why?" the reasonable brother asked, confused as to why his eldest brother would still press on this.

"Just do it!" the eldest exclaimed.

Irked at how pushy his eldest brother was, he fixed his text to sound more like Karamatsu, by just adding random English. It was Karamatsu-approved before it was sent.

"That's a good impression of Karamatsu, Choromatsu," she replied, then added, "Did Karamatsu approve?"

"HOW?" the eldest screamed, "YANKEE-BO! HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?"

"I've been getting it right so far, right? I'm mostly guessing," she texted again.

"Hold on, I got something," Jyushimatsu mentioned, taking the phone, "YUKIBO! SHOW ME A PANTY SHOT!"

"JYU-JYUISHIMATSU?" the second brother yelled out.

"Jyushimatsu, she's going to think it's me saying that! Don't make me out as Rapeymatsu!" Osomatsu scolded.

"Nice try, Jyushimatsu," she responded.

"Ha! My Yankee-bo saw right through you!" the eldest cheered. Slowly, it became a game between the five, trying to outwit her by pretending to be each other. This was honestly a lot more fun than whatever they were doing.

After feeding his friends in the alley, Ichimatsu returned home. However, before he could climb the stairs to his room, his mother called for him.

"Oh, Ichimatsu, you're back! Good, here," she passed him a nicely wrapped package holding two _bentos_ , "I made her lunch from the groceries she brought. Can you deliver it to her?"

This was even better than what he had planned today to get his daily dose of Yukibo. Initially, he thought about just video chatting with her over the phone, but with this he could meet with her in person. He happily agreed, and rushed upstairs to grab his phone so he could let her know he was coming. When he opened the door to his room, he saw that his brothers were gathered around with their backs turned to him.

"Oh, oh! Let me send her something," Todomatsu spoke, and there was shuffling and giggling between him and Osomatsu.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" the fourth brother asked, and then saw that they had his brand-new phone. His brothers turned, but were frozen in place as he stormed up to them. They half-anticipated him to hit them, but he merely snatched his phone from his youngest brother's hand. Panicking, he glanced through all the messages his brothers had sent her, and they waited in suspense, knowing that by the end of it, they would feel his wrath for sure. However, he started to laugh. He faced his brothers, telling them, "Ah, you guys are too stupid to do any damage. What was I worried about?"

That comment struck a nerve within the five, girlfriendless brothers. Their worst brother had his girlfriend for not even a month, and he was already thinking he was better than the rest of them. Just because he had a girlfriend, it did not mean he was a better person than any of them. He was still a jobless, virgin, NEET, approaching his thirties, and still living with his parents.

"See ya," he spat, about to leave their bedroom.

"Hey, wait. Where the hell are you going?" his eldest brother asked.

Ichimatsu was about to answer, but he realized that his bored brothers might want to tag along. "Mom wanted me to deliver lunch to one of her friends," he lied. Somehow, it worked. His five other brothers turned about, not wanting to participate in such a tedious task. Thrilled that he finally got his way, the fourth brother nearly skipped out of the bedroom, and then out of the house with the _bentos_.

As he was on his way to the subway station, he texted Yukibo, telling her that he was going to deliver the lunch his mother made. She quickly replied back, "Oh! Thank you! I haven't had lunch yet! But, I'm not at home right now. I should be home in about twenty minutes, but if you get there before me, then just make yourself at home." He still remembered the combination to her digital lock from that steamy exchange all those days ago. Fantasies of continuing and finishing that passion-filled night flooded his mind and his pants. He had to use the _bentos_ as a shield over his crotch during his journey to her apartment.

As he sat quietly in the bullet train with their lunch carefully masking his optimistic boner, he agreed that he would be happy if she would kiss him again. He had missed his chance last night, because of how he behaved so terribly during their very first date. For nearly the entire night, he had been thinking it over and over again, like a video on replay, about what he could had changed or done to win that kiss. The worst of him came out when his brothers showed up, and thus, he realized that he needed to hold better control of himself whenever his brothers would try to embarrass him. He never wanted to lash out at Yukibo ever again, especially over something so petty. In order for him to believe he deserved her, he needed to become someone deserving of her. This meant he needed to be nicer and more trusting towards his brothers.

Finally arriving at the front door of her apartment, he was about to input the code until a familiar and irritating voice shouted for him down the hall. "Hey! Ichimatsu! Which one of mom's friends lives in this fancy place?" his eldest brother called out.

"O-O-O-OSOMATSU?" the younger brother stammered, nearly dropping the lunch and messing it up, "WHY THE F- Why are you here?"

"You idiot. You're a terrible liar. As if mom would use you, the dark doll, as her delivery boy to her pish-posh friends," the eldest laughed, "So this is Yukibo's place, huh? Damn! She really is a rich girl! Lucky you!"

His instinct to wail on his older brother was especially difficult to suppress. "G-go home! You only need one person to deliver lunch," the youngest tried his very best to deter him from entering her home.

"You can't have another date the day after! She'll get bored of you!" Osomatsu mentioned, "If I'm around, then it's like a hang out."

Ichimatsu grumbled, "As if I'm going to take advice from a guy who uses AVs as dating tips."

"You still take my advice anyway," his older brother grinned.

Cornered and unable to retort, the dark brother only scoffed at his brother's rebuttal. He then carefully covered the keypad with the lunch boxes, preventing his older brother from seeing the code to Yukibo's apartment. The lock chimed allowing them passage inside.

Since it was daylight, and he was not distracted by a kiss, Ichimatsu was finally able to get a good look at her apartment. First came the sweet and clean smell of a girl's room, which put the tense boyfriend at ease the moment he stepped inside. There was an overall purple hue to the room, from the curtains and the rug in her living room to the vases and clutters upon her surfaces. Her TV, larger than anything they had ever owned, was across from her pristine kitchen. The brothers were surprised that she owned a gaming console, never expecting a studious girl like her to play video games. Many of the figurines that cluttered her counters and some of her tables were of animals, mostly cats. There was countless cat paraphernalia scattered about in her home, and it made it obviously clear that a cat was living with her. There were even white tuffs of fur stuck in her violet rugs.

"We're here!" the eldest called out, but gained no response, "Huh? She's not home?"

"She'll be home soon," his younger brother replied, taking his shoes off at the entrance. His brother rushed in with his shoes on, and the younger brother shouted, "What the hell?"

"She's American. You don't see her shoes by the entrance, do you?" the elder brother argued. He was right. There was not even a shoe rack by the entrance, but he still wanted to be polite. "Rich people really have the life, don't they?" Osomatsu spouted, as he walked over to the TV.

"Don't touch anything!" the fourth brother shouted, placing the _bentos_ on the kitchen counter.

"Woah, check out that view," the eldest awed as he stared out the massive window in the center of the living room which showed the busy city below, "You think her family paid millions for a place like this?"

"I-I don't know. I don't ask about her money," the younger brother spat.

"Yeah, you know, I think Hatabou has her beat," his older brother laughed. Osomatsu then glanced towards her bedroom, where the door was slightly ajar, showing a glimpse of her bed, wardrobe, and bookcases. "Hey, let's snoop around in her room," he suggested.

His brother looked at him with a disgusted look, "Just stay here! Don't you dare go in there!" The elder brother responded with an annoyed expression. His overprotectiveness was getting on his nerves.

There was a sudden high pitch mew that came from the bathroom. It was so soft and so high pitch that Ichimatsu nearly melted from the sound of it. He could not wait to meet Yukibo's tiny, adorable little kitten. However, a kitten did not emerge from the bathroom. A lion of a cat emerged with fur so white and so fluffy that it looked like it was made from snow. This cat was so massive, that as it grinded its head on Ichimatsu's leg, it nearly pushed him over. The tip of its tail could reach his stomach and left white tuffs of fur on his sweatshirt as it scratched itself on him. This beast was the sweetest thing Ichimatsu had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

"Wow, instead of a guard dog, she has a guard cat. That thing is huge!" Osomatsu commented, "Is everything in America big?"

Too distracted with her cat, Hadrian, to reply, the younger brother sat to his knees to rub his face on the cat's silky soft fur. He could hear him purr happily, and it filled him with a sense of warmth that he would normally get from his cat friends. Hadrian placed both strong paws on his knees and rubbed his face on Ichimatsu's face. Despite his huge stature, the cat's demeanor was very laid-back. His blue eyes were rested and calm, as if he had already put his trust in Ichimatsu. This cat was so friendly from the very beginning; his other friends would take weeks to warm up to him. He hugged the cat lovingly, caressing the soft white fur from his ear to his back.

Osomatsu had been quiet for too long. The younger brother turned to check if he was not touching anything, but realized that he had disappeared, and the bedroom door was wide open. Nearly tripping on his own feet out of panic, he scrambled towards her bedroom while shouting out, "Osomatsu, you prick! What the hell are you even doing in there?" By the time he entered, he witnessed his older brother crouching over the opened lower drawer of her dresser with a pair of tiny white underwear in hand.

"Hey, Yukibo is a lot curvier than this. Why is these so tiny?" the eldest asked himself, ignoring the fact that his younger brother barged in on him. The panties were solid white, but had a black trim by the elastic edges. "Wait a minute," he realized, and then unfolded the panties, revealing the true size of it, "Holy shit! Her ass must be huge!"

Flustered and furious, Ichimatsu snatched the other end of the panties, and tried tugging them away from his brother. "Why are you doing this?" he asked him.

"Come on! You already have the girl. Can't you let your big brother get a little side action?" the elder brother teased as they stretched the panties more and more in their little tug of war.

"NO!" the younger brother screamed, and ripped it from his hands. Ichimatsu had retrieved the white panties, but Osomatsu kept the black trim.

"Look what you did! You ripped it. Now you have to get her a new pair!" the older brother scolded, but suddenly realized something about the trim, "Hold up." The trim of the panties was actually its own underwear, specifically a black thong. Both brothers were at a loss for words as they imagined this tiny piece of string holding Yukibo's decadent ass together. This tiny shred of fabric meant to be placed between ass cheeks was the holiest thing they had ever stumbled across. The elder brother was about to put the pair to his face, but Ichimatsu grabbed it from his hands, entering into another round of tug of war with him. However, this time, Osomatsu was not relenting at all.

"God damn it! Let go of it!" the younger brother scolded.

"Let me have this!" the older brother argued.

Surprisingly, the literal piece of string was able to withstand the pulling force of two frustrated virgins. It had stretched long enough to fit a person in each leg hole, but it still had not snapped. To give themselves more pulling strength, the two men started yelling loudly, allowing the frustrated energy of a thousand virgins pool around them. Somehow it would grant them more power, but only stalled the stalemate further. Their screams were so loud that they did not hear the front door open and close, nor the footsteps approaching the bedroom, nor the girl waiting beside them with her arms crossed.

"I'M HOME!" Yukibo shouted, breaking their power-up chant. Stunned and embarrassed, Ichimatsu released his grip on her thong, letting Osomatsu tumble back. His back hit the side of her bed which stopped his tumble, but he looked up to her with a feeble, nervous smile. She sighed, "You can keep that."

"REALLY?" they both exclaimed.

"I don't know where your hands have been. You probably fucked your hands so much that even if I washed it, I'd end up pregnant if I ever wore it again," she spat. Her reddened boyfriend hung his head in shame, but his brother cheered loudly as he whirled the thong in the air victoriously. It surprised Ichimatsu how unfazed his older brother was towards Yukibo's harsh, but truthful comment. In fact, the last time he rubbed one out was last night, thinking about her seductive face covered in that phallic flower's white goo.

While Osomatsu toyed with her thong, Ichimatsu noticed that she was wearing the shirt he bought her, and it brightened his day better than a room full of cats. She looked gorgeous in that black shirt, and the mesh around her arms and over her chest made it just that much more irresistible. He really wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked, but he could tell from her expression that she was already upset. Of course, there was a valid reason; a man with the exact same face as her boyfriend stole her underwear.

"You're a bit of a pervert, aren't you, Yankee-bo?" Osomatsu jeered, as he stretched her thong, "How many times have you worn this?"

"H-Hey! What kind of question is that?" the boyfriend snapped, trying to defend his girlfriend's honor. Hopefully, he would be able to score some brownie points in defending her.

However, she replied, "I actually just bought those. Haven't worn that one."

The older brother groaned, "Aw! They're worthless, then!" Despite his statement, he still stuffed them in the pocket of his jeans.

She sighed, "So, if you guys are done, let's have some lunch." The girl stood still, waiting for the two brothers to leave her bedroom, but they stood there with her. Annoyed, she flung her arms towards the door, and only then did they realize that she wanted them to leave first. As the brothers exited, she followed and closed the door to her bedroom behind her.

Ichimatsu could feel how annoyed Yukibo was. Normally, he would have easily ignored such an emotion, especially from his brothers or from strangers, but when it came from her, it was really bothering him. He had an urge to find a way to remedy it, or else he would go today without a kiss as well. Why of all days did Osomatsu decide to bother him today?

"I'm sorry," he managed to say to her, "I really tried to stop him."

She only exhaled calmly with a defeated smile, "I know you tried. It's Osomatsu after all." Surprisingly, she raised her hand and caressed his cheek, letting a bit of her fingertips glide through his hair. The feel of her hand on his face brought him greater comfort than anything else in the universe.

"Looks like mom only made two lunches. Ichimatsu, you don't eat much, so I'll eat yours," the eldest brother grinned as he opened the lunches.

"What the hell?" the younger brother exclaimed. Why was Osomatsu being more of a dick than he normally was?

"No worries," Yukibo spoke up, tucking her hair behind her right ear. She was clearly expressing how annoyed she was with the eldest sextuplet, "I'll whip up something in the kitchen."

"Thanks!" the eldest sing-songed, and saw that his mom prepared seasoned steak as their lunch, " _Naisu_!"

As she was in her kitchen, putting together something they could not see over the divider, the younger brother decided enough was enough and confronted his older brother. "Why the hell are you still here? You got her panties. So, just leave!" he scolded.

"But I haven't had lunch yet," the eldest argued, with a smug grin, "Besides, Yankee-bo is making us something to eat. Isn't she just the perfect wife?"

"Will you stop calling her that?" he snapped. It was growing to be more and more difficult to hold in his rage. He wanted to choke the life out of his older brother again, but he could not. His older brother had the perfect shield, Yukibo, and if he lost control and started attacking his brother, he would lose her forever. Worst of all, Osomatsu knew this, and he relished in it.

The younger brother's American _waifu_ returned with two plates of sandwiches. They were not neatly cut in perfect triangular halves with the crusts removed. Instead, the sandwiches were stacked with layers of juicy slices of deli meat, hearty tomatoes, crisp lettuce, smooth cheese, and garnished with mayo and mustard. This was a true American sandwich, looking like something from an American commercial, just shy of a bald eagle flying across the screen and a man in a cowboy hat on top of a monster truck brandishing his automatic rifles while the American flag flew in the background and fireworks explode in red, white, and blue.

"The steak looks so good. Your mom is a great cook," Yukibo smiled, and passed one of the sandwiches to Ichimatsu, "I hope you enjoy this as well. I'm not much of a cook."

"I'm sure it's delicious," he replied, trying to keep it as positive as he could. However, that mean-looking sandwich looked like it would hit him if he tried picking it up.

"What about me?" the eldest asked.

"You have an entire _bento_ ," the girl snapped.

He whined, "Aw! But I want to try that sandwich, too!"

She sighed, "Well, it's a good thing I made two." Once she passed the second sandwich to the other man-child, the two brothers manned the hulking heap of the food pyramid, and opened their mouths to near tearing to bite down on it. The flavors of the vegetables, meats, cheese, condiments, and breads mixed into an explosion of flavor. The two could see the stars and stripes as they chewed, and pridefully swallowed it.

The boyfriend spoke up, "Deli-"

"This sucks!" Osomatsu blurted, as he continued eating the rest of the sandwich, "You really aren't that great of a cook. There's too much mustard in this mess. And what kind of meat is this? Dog meat? I thought you were Japanese, not Korean!" He was still licking his lips catching the mayo and mustard residue on the sides of his mouth.

"Hey!" his younger brother got up, unable to hold back his murderous rage. Though he was unable to, Yukibo held it back for him as she sat him back down.

"It's hard salami and capicola," she answered, after pushing her hair behind her ear, "It's not really suited to Japanese tastes, but it was all I had."

"If you're going to be a _waifu_ , you need to make food suited for your man," he jeered, "It's no excuse that you're American and we're Japanese. You have to accommodate to us! What good is a woman if she can't cook?"

If Osomatsu continued rambling on, his younger brother would literally spontaneously combust from how much he was seething. It was almost inhuman how terrible Osomatsu was treating her, and he had no idea why he was doing this or why Yukibo was putting up with any of this. How could she keep her cool at this level when he was being so obnoxious? Despite this, he needed to match her calmness, for his sake and hers. He really wanted to be a changed man for her, but was he really changing for the better letting someone insult the woman he loved like this?

"I'm rich. I don't have to cook," she spat, completely curving Ichimatsu's rage into an abrupt laughter. The look on his elder brother's shocked face turning into an embarrassed grimace made it even funnier for him. "So, let's eat!" she said in a cheerful tone.

She ate from the _bento_ mostly, and Ichimatsu continued digging into the massive sandwich. The couple were talking up a storm, mostly about cats. Osomatsu was also eating from the other _bento_ , but he kept silent, looking as if he was concocting something.

"Oh, you got something there," she mentioned, pointing at the drop of mustard on the side of his mouth, "I'll get it." Instead of using her finger, she leaned it and kissed away the little droplet, igniting a different kind of fire in his body. Flustered, all he could respond with was a light chuckle.

"It's so weird seeing Ichimatsu like this with a girl," the eldest brought up, "He was so unpopular in high school." The younger brother froze up, staring at his brother in utter shock that he was going to bring up high school now of all times. "Remember Kanemori Meiko, Ichimatsu?" he asked. The younger brother grimaced, wanting desperately for him to stop talking, but he was absolutely powerless. There was nothing he could say to stop his brother without revealing what happened himself. He continued, "He had a crush on this lowerclassman for months. It got so bad that one of us found her panties in his shoe locker."

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Ichimatsu shouted, slamming his hands on the table, "Someone planted them there! It wasn't me!"

The eldest laughed, "He already had a bad reputation for being a sociopathic creep, but that just really proved it!"

"Some girl got gangraped at a homecoming dance when I was in high school," she responded so matter-of-factly. Both brothers fell silent and still. The atrocity she mentioned completely overshadowed whatever bad experience Osomatsu was trying to reopen, and the way she presented it so coldly bothered them as much as the atrocity itself. "Those men are probably still in jail. I think they were more of a creep than Ichimatsu will ever be," she added. Ichimatsu was absolutely at a loss at how her wit was able to not only see through him, but through his obnoxious older brother. "Besides, even if he actually did steal her panties, she must've been an idiot to have left it lying around somewhere. He just seized the opportunity. Though, that actually sounds more like you, Osomatsu."

The younger brother stared at him in disbelief, wondering if he was one who stole their classmate's panties. The first-born sextuplet froze for a brief moment before responding, "You're pretty quick to shift this all on me. Did I get on your nerves, Yankee-bo?"

She laughed as she replied sarcastically, "What are you talking about? If you weren't around, I don't know what he and I could've done after lunch. Maybe, watch a movie together, snuggle up on the couch, and then one thing could lead to another and we'd have sex." The intense hatred built back up inside the boyfriend as he glared down his older brother for cock-blocking him the second time. Osomatsu made a strange face as he tried to hold in his laughter, almost as if he had been wanting to burst out laughing for the longest time. Despite their conversation turning into a battleground, she was more engaged with Osomatsu than she was with Ichimatsu. His conversations with her was more of her just listening to him, but her and Osomatsu, they were quipping back and forth. Instead of his older brother acting as the third wheel, he was becoming the third wheel.

"I'm the oldest brother! Like hell, I'd let him graduate from being a virgin before me!" the eldest revealed.

"Petty as usual," she sighed, "Did you show up hoping to watch?"

His brother perked up, "WOAH! YOU'D LET ME WATCH? My little brother and I have the same face. Watching him do you is like I'm doing you!"

Yukibo laughed loudly, and his brother joined as if they were having a merry time despite arguing earlier. Ichimatsu could feel the room spin around him from how angry he was. It was only a matter of time before he flipped the table over, and put his hands around his older brother's neck again. With every ounce of restraint he had, he held himself back, knowing that if he lashed out, Osomatsu would win, and he would lose more than just to his older brother. That kiss he had held out so long for would vanish in an instant.

"So, seriously, why are you still here?" she asked.

"I wanted steak for lunch," he answered so matter-of-factly, "Mom refused to feed the rest of us the steaks you brought us, Yankee-bo." Was that all, Ichimatsu wondered. The obnoxious behavior and the terrible insults were the result of wanting to eat steak for lunch?

"And?" she asked, clearly not buying his answer.

"Giving my little brother a lesson in humility," he added, rubbing the bottom of his nose, "He thought he was a big shot this morning with his new phone and hot girlfriend. As the oldest brother, I had the duty of reminding him who he really was and where he came from before it all got to his head."

That was the stupidest reason to ruin another date. Ichimatsu waited eagerly for Yukibo's wit to rip his older brother a new one, but she turned towards the fourth sextuplet and said in a very cold tone, "I don't belong to you." It sent shivers down his spine, and he sunk even deeper into his seat, out of shame. She then turned back towards the older brother and said, "And I didn't need your help."

"I did it for me," he grinned, "You're welcome, though!"

As they finished lunch, Yukibo took the plates and the boxes and left to go washed them before giving it back. The younger brother had been glaring at his oldest brother ever since. The lunch date was ruined, more in shambles than yesterday's date. And again, it was all Osomatsu's fault.

"What's wrong?" the eldest asked, coyly.

"I will never forgive you," he snapped

"You brought this upon yourself," his older brother replied, "I warned you to take this seriously."

" _I am_ ," he snarled, "Why are you making this so much harder?"

"Am I?" the oldest asked, tilting his head to the side coyly. It took the willpower of the gods for Ichimatsu to hold back his urge to deck his older brother. He had already come this far, and to let loose now would have put all of his efforts in vain.

She brought back the sparkling clean _bentos_ , and wrapped them back up in their little package before handing it back to Ichimatsu. She smiled kindly, tucking her hair behind her ear so sweetly for him. "Thanks for having lunch with me," she told him.

He did not want Yukibo to think he was letting all of this get to his head. Whatever Osomatsu was trying to convey to her about him was completely wrong, and he had to prove it. Overall, he knew he was a broke, jobless, uneducated, anti-social, virgin, ambitionless creep, and he, in no way, was entitled to anything she offered him. For the rest of his life, he was indebted to her for her kindness, her generosity, and her understanding. There was nothing more humbling than that realization.

"I appreciate you," he responded, almost urgently, "I'm not taking you for granted. I'm more serious about this than I have ever been. I just… I just really like having you around. I'm happy I met you, and that you're still here."

She placed her lips on his despite the older brother only being a few feet away. All of his insecurities, scars, and wounds disappeared while their lips connected. Still quaking in his knees, his arms, again, just hanged from the sides as her hands glided up from his chest to his shoulders. His desires instinctively wanted a taste of her tongue, but he held back and just relished in the victory. Somehow, he had salvaged this, even though he did not know how he did it. The eldest turned away with a small smile, rubbing the bottom of his nose. Once she pulled away, she told him, "I'm glad I met you, too."

The two brothers exited the apartment, waving good-bye to Yukibo as they left the building. Osomatsu wrapped his arms over his younger brother's shoulder, grinning from ear to ear, "See? Your big brother is your ultimate wingman. I didn't make it hard at all! You got a kiss! I fucking hate you, you piece of shit!"

The hatred had warded off by the time the younger brother gloated, "That's actually my second kiss. The first time had tongue."

"I hope you die," the eldest's grin shifted into a still face.

Ichimatsu reached into his brother's pocket and yanked the thong from out of it. "And you're not keeping these," he spat and tucked them in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He was going to keep them.

"I _really_ hope you die," Osomatsu replied, patting his younger brother's back.


	8. Chapter 8

It was another typical day in the Matsuno household. While the parents were away, their six fully grown sons carried on with their non-productive hobbies: reading _manga_ and magazines, playing _shoji_ , and listening to pop idol music. The one son with a real responsibility had left just a while ago to feed the stray cats in the alley. His brothers tried their very best to continue with their daily activity, but one thing in their room was distracting them. A girl was in their room, and she was laying on her stomach with her legs lightly swinging in the air as she studied her medical textbook. Her class canceled for the day, and she decided to stop by her boyfriend's house to get to know the rest of the family just a little bit better. Ichimatsu was already aware that she was waiting at his house, and though he was a bit worried on how his brothers would act towards her, she assured him that she could handle them. As she was patiently waiting for his return, the brothers realized that this was the perfect opportunity for them to get to know her, and perhaps understand what she saw in their most troubled brother. They never had a girl in their bedroom before, and it excited the five of them. Laying on the flat floor really defined the American curves on this Japanese-faced girl.

Nearly tossing his manga aside, Osomatsu took the first initiative, and, without saying anything, walked over to the American. She paid no mind to him as he took a seat beside her, but his brothers tensed up as if they were about to witness a car accident.

"My neck hurts," he announced, as he gently laid his head down onto Yukibo's cushy tushy. Still her attention was towards her textbook, and his brothers watched, completely horrified and absolutely envious of their eldest brother's audacity. He shifted his head around, getting more and more comfortable with his all-natural pillow. His brothers gawked at Yukibo, wondering why and how she was so calm about this.

After she turned a page, while still keeping her gaze on her textbook, she asked, "Comfortable?"

"Best pillow ever," he grinned, turning his head to the side, putting his cheek on her cheek.

With a cheery voice, she replied, "Good, I'm glad." There was so much sarcasm in that statement that it almost sounded like a cry for help. He boldly moved his hand on her thigh, his fingers buried between her legs, and gave it a nice squeeze. His younger brothers stood up, ready to rip him from his little slice of heaven. However, her swinging legs were reaching closer to her rear like a pendulum. Finally, with full intent, Osomatsu received a hard heel kick on his forehead. In response, he shot up in pain. "What's wrong? I thought you were comfortable," she spoke up, clearly trying to stifle her laughter. His brothers were snickering as well, as they sat back down.

The eldest sextuplet stood up, still holding his forehead. He was about to retreat back to his spot, but his attacker had finished her daily read, and closed her text book. As she slowly stood up, trying to keep her balance from being so bottom heavy, her knees were buckled, and her hands held onto the floor to help her up, letting her rear stick out vulnerably. Osomatsu took this opportunity to get his petty revenge on her.

"Hey!" he shouted, and smacked her on her ass, leaving his hand where he hit her, "Pillows shouldn't hit their users." He copped a few squeezes in, savoring the plump masterpiece.

"This pillow is too firm to mold to _you_ ," she replied bluntly, and swung her dense hip against the eldest's body. The impact knocked him over the floor table, scattering the _shoji_ pieces all over the floor. The lack of concern the younger sextuplets expressed through their laughter showed how little they cared for Osomatsu's petty antics. They instead praised Yukibo for teaching him the lesson he deserved. Defeated, embarrassed, and pissed, the eldest sextuplet returned to his _manga_.

Wanting to get to know the other brothers, she glanced over at Karamatsu who was reading one of his fashion magazines. He tensed up as he watched her make her way towards him, suddenly feeling embarrassed to be reading about men's fashion. High fashion and unwavering confidence was what separated him from the rest of his brothers, but it still made no difference in the social hierarchy. He was still a virgin NEET.

"Is that your guitar?" she asked, pointing at the acoustic in the corner. He nodded nervously, and she replied, "Aw! You'll get to serenade to one lucky girl." The other four watched in horror, clenching their bodies to prepare for whatever painful monologue their second brother would spout.

"Hmm," he smirked, "My guitar amplifies the love within my singing. The love that I have is like a net, waiting to snare the fish. That fish is the heart of a Karamatsu _gaaru_." His brothers toppled over from the pain, like they were having heart attacks.

She giggled, "You're so poetic." All five of them stared at her in disbelief, even Karamatsu was shocked that she was not in pain like the rest of them. "Your high fashion helps you stick out, and you're really sensitive at heart. With all that confidence you have in yourself, I'm surprised that you're still single," she told him, making his jaw drop in astonishment. She added, "Sooner or later, girls will start calling you ' _Kare_ matsu'!"

No one had ever told him anything remotely close to the kind words of encouragement she poured. His feelings twisted; the pun she made at the very end had his sinful emotions spur up again. A glamourous, American girl with a beautiful heart affirmed him that he was palatable towards women. Suppressing the emotions he knew were wrong forced his sheer optimism and excitement to soar.

"Any girl who doesn't think that isn't worth your time anyway," she affirmed.

He spun his sunglasses before putting them on, and leaned his back on the wall, while crossing his legs, "Only a woman with a beautiful heart can win mine." She patted his shoulder, leaving the second brother with a refreshing, cleansed feeling of confidence. He felt like he could take on the world all over again.

Leaving Karamatsu with his confidence again, Yukibo took a seat by Choromatsu who was still gawking at her for putting up with his older brother's painful antics. He had one ear piece of his headphones on, while the other was moved aside. Yukibo picked up the Hashimoto Nyaa album, staring at the cover and then the list of songs on the back. The third brother wondered if she was going to be disgusted with him for chasing after pop idols.

"Is she good?" she asked.

Immediately, Choromatsu realized that the song he was listening to was just her saying "Nyaa" over and over again while a generic pop music played in the background. The sole reason why he even bought this was because she was cute, and he liked the sound of her voice. "I like it," he answered truthfully.

"He _really_ likes it. So much so that I wouldn't even touch that case," Osomatsu joked, causing the other three to snicker, "I lost count how many times he fapped to it." The third sextuplet winced; now two girls had realized his shameful hobby.

"Why were you keeping count?" she asked, causing the younger brothers' faces to go red from trying to hold back from bursting out laughing. "You all do it, too," she spat, silencing the snickering amongst the brothers and forcing them to grimace. "How often do you see her?" she asked the third brother.

"Every week," he admitted, feeling very embarrassed for unknowingly admitting to stalking this underground pop idol for years.

"So, you're quite the loyal fan. If you were this way to a girl you liked, then I think she'd see how dedicated you are to her. You'd shower her with so much adoration that she'd have to be seriously vain to reject that," she mentioned, which stunned him. He never felt worthy of approaching a normal girl, thinking that she would never give him the time of day. With idols, they had to at least pretend to make their fans feel special with their cute faces and catchy music. "Dedication usually correlates to security. If you can prove to a girl that you're a stable, hardworking man, then you have nothing to worry about," she mentioned, bringing spark into his eyes, "And you've already proven that you have the potential."

"Really?" he asked, still in disbelief of the things she was saying to him, "Do you really think that of me?" A medical student was telling a NEET that he had potential. It was asinine.

She nodded, "Of course! Even your parents agree."

His eyes sparkled, and his body reenergized. He wanted to pursue his job search even more so now than ever. With a steady income, he could move out, and once he moved out, he could get a girlfriend! "Thank you, Yukibo!" he grinned, suppressing the inappropriate feelings that were developing within him. She patted his back with a smile, and got up to sit by the fifth brother, Jyushimatsu.

The hyperactive brother had been picking up the _shoji_ pieces that his eldest brother had knocked over. Not versed in the game, he had only been shuffling, stacking, or flinging them around the board before their spill. The girl started helping him clean up a bit since one of the perpetrators was busy reading his _manga_. She felt mostly responsible for the incident, never taking to account that the eldest brother's wimpy frame would get completely toppled over by a mild hip bump.

Once all the pieces were collected and placed back on the short table, the fifth brother thanked her and then asked her, "Do you know how to play?" She revealed that she did not which surprised the brothers for the moment, learning that the know-it-all genius was not that all-knowing. The second youngest brother flung his over-sleeved arms in the air, and before resuming on his _shoji_ snake, he cheered, "Me neither!" A warm smile curled on her face as she was charmed by his optimism and child-like demeanor. He then placed two smaller pieces in his gaping mouth, pretending they were fangs, and then hissed like a snake at Yukibo, which made it difficult for her to hold in her laughter.

Letting out small fits of laughter, she said, "You're so funny, Jyushimatsu. It's not easy to make me laugh. You're so cheerful and energetic that anyone will always feel really happy around you. That's a really amazing trait you have." He laughed whole-heartedly from her response as his smile widened even bigger than ever.

"Not enough to keep Homura around," Osomatsu mentioned, forcing his younger brothers' spines to freeze. The second, third and sixth brother watched Jyushimatsu's smile quickly fade, and then turned their glare at their eldest.

Todomatsu, who was sitting with his eldest brother on their couch, threw his book at him, which missed and hit the wall behind him. "What the hell is wrong with you, big brother Osomatsu?" he snapped.

"What? Did you already forget how all six of us decided to look for her?" he mentioned, dodging another book his youngest brother threw at him, "She got married, remember?"

Yukibo carefully watched the fifth sextuplet slowly withdraw into himself. He had the same look of despair Ichimatsu showed at the very beginning of their relationship, and she refused to let such a happy person dwindle like this from such a petty jab. Placing a hand on his shoulder, which caused him to look up at her, she told him, "It's alright. You must really care about her to get this worked up. It's refreshing to know that she's doing alright, isn't it?" The fifth brother's eyes glistened a bit, as he listened. "You're optimistic and good-willed. That's more valuable than anything, and the right girl will see that."

Jyushimatsu stood up, and performed his energized dance as he shouted, "HUSTLE! HUSTLE! MUSCLE! MUSCLE!" He did it more so to expel the heat from the fire in his heart, caused by her kind words and his sudden feelings. As quickly as his eldest put him out, Yukibo had ignited him once again, stronger and happier than ever. He helped her up to her feet, and then gave her a strong-armed hug, even managing to lift her up off her feet. The family goofball was pepped enough to hit a thousand homeruns.

Todomatsu waited eagerly for Yukibo to say kind words of encouragement to him. He wondered if she would mention that he was the most successful, or the most friendly, or the most handsome out of the sextuplets. Since he was one step higher than the rest of his brothers from being the manager of _Sutabaa_ , she could only affirm what he already known about himself. Even if she had some criticism, it would be mostly at the fault of his identical brothers. They had always held him back, being the main reason why he was only a rank higher than the rest of them in the social hierarchy. Without them, he would be at the very top.

After she picked up the two books he used to hit his eldest with, she glanced towards him with a smile and passed it to him. His body tensed up, waiting to hear her kind words for him. Her smile was already exciting him. "You should be more honest with yourself," she told him, and sat back down by Jyushimatsu.

He was stunned, glancing at the rest of his brothers who kept their lips tightly closed. "W-wait!" he shouted as he stood up from the couch, "I've been honest!"

"Keeping secrets isn't being honest, Totty," the second brother mentioned.

"But, I've been good! I'm the only one with a job out of these NEETs!" he argued.

"How can you even compare yourself to us when you keep telling everyone that you're an only child, Totty?" Choromatsu scolded.

"Because you all have been holding me back!" he screamed, causing an awkward silence for an agonizing ten seconds.

"Totty," Jyushimatsu called out, breaking the silence, "That kind of hurts."

The youngest paused, and sat back down. For him, it was the truth. His brothers had dragged him to the very bottom of the social caste, and he had been clawing his way to the top. But he had only barely reached the caste level just above them. He had plenty of friends, and he had gone to plenty of mixers, but still, he struck out with every girl, never getting passed the friendzone. It had to be because of his brothers; there was no other explaination.

"People can see the mask you wear, Todomatsu," she told him, "You're a friendly guy, and a good listener, but you can't expect a reward for that."

It did not make much sense to him. A relationship was simple: if you were nice to someone, they would be nice in return, and then it would blossom into romance. An emotional connection would already come with it all. As long as he was nice to girls, he was entitled to them, he thought. What did being honest have to do with anything? He stared at her, wondering what she could have possibly meant for him to be honest with himself.

"You're a scumbag, Totty, just like your big brothers," Osomatsu grinned, scratching the bottom of his nose.

And then, it clicked. He had been trying to cover up the fact that he was as rotten as his shitty older brothers. The main difference between him and his older brothers was that his brothers had come to terms with how shitty they were. It all made sense; being a single caste higher, he was still pretty lousy. Eventually people around him would stumble upon the real him and his five demon brothers. It was pointless for him to ignore that fact.

"Sorry, Yukibo," he said to her, feeling a little at peace with himself.

With a smile, she replied, "You glow a lot more when you're honest." He flustered a bit, scratching the back of his head. She did not give him words of encouragement, but a reality check instead. How lucky of Ichimatsu to land someone as down to earth as she was.

"I'm home," the fourth brother spoke out as he opened the door to his room. Relieved that nothing seemed amiss, he smiled at Yukibo, blushing a little from the sight of her. "They didn't give you any trouble, did they?" he asked, taking a seat beside her.

"I'm fine. We got to know each other a bit better," she answered, taking his hand in hers.

"That's good to hear," he replied, squeezing her hand in his.

"So, what are you two planning today?" Osomatsu nosed, as he closed his _manga_.

"That's a good question," she added, "Do you have something in mind, Ichimatsu?"

He flinched, and started stammering, "I d-didn't think of anything."

"Ichimatsu! You had like twenty minutes to come up something!" the eldest teased, "Your big brother has to wingman for you again?"

"S-shut up! Let me think of something," the flustered brother snapped.

Immediately, as if he had been planning this the entire time, the eldest asked, "Hey, Yankee-bo, do you want to go play _pachinko_?"

Before any of the brothers could express their distaste for his suggestion, she replied, " _Pachinko_? I've never played before. Sounds fun!"

"Alright," the eldest virgin shot up, "Let's go, all seven of us!" The younger brothers feared that bringing a classy girl to a shady place like their _pachinko_ parlor would be bad news. There were all sorts of odd characters that lurked among the flashing, ball-dispensing machinery, and those weirdos were in the same boat as the sextuplets, old, broke, and desperate. What the hell was Osomatsu trying to accomplish bringing Yukibo to a place that?

The group arrived at the Pachinko Dragon, their favorite parlor. Since it was rather early during the day, there were barely any patrons wasting away their metal balls to the machines. Despite the bright flashing lights and playful music from the machines, the aging men that were glued in front of them were wilted, defeated husks. The contrast of the colorful machines and the dull patron painted the _pachinko_ parlor to be a place of broken dreams. This place was a dark pit meant to lure its victims in with the false hope of a better life.

"Feels good to be back," the eldest grinned, taking in the atmosphere.

Four of the sextuplets ventured off to their favorite machines, after wishing each other the best of luck. That left Ichimatsu, Osomatsu, and Yukibo deciding on where to go. The fourth sextuplet carefully watched his girlfriend's expression, but he was surprised to see that she was looking cheery and optimistic in such a drab environment. It really impressed him how difficult it was to faze her.

However, his eldest brother quickly turned towards her and asked, "Can I borrow some money?" The fourth brother glared at him in disbelief, but was shocked to see Yukibo reluctantly pulling out her wallet.

"Wait!" he spouted, pushing her wallet away, "Don't give him money. Don't _ever_ give him money." He then pulled out a thousand-yen bill and handed it to his brother. With a terrifying look, he threatened, "Now, leave us alone."

"You're not going to teach her, are you? You always lose!" the eldest teased, pocketing the cash.

"S-so do you!" he snapped.

"It's alright!" the girl spoke up, "You just turn the dial and balls shoot out, right?"

"It's more complex than that!" the obnoxious brother argued, "You have to twist it just right. Here, let me show you Ichimatsu's favorite girl."

"H-H-HEY!" the fourth brother nearly screamed, "WE'RE NOT- THERE ISN'T- JUST DIE ALREADY!"

The eldest laughed, "You should introduce your new girlfriend to your old one though!"

The younger brother's face reddened from embarrassment so much so that his head looked like it was about to explode. Each brother's favorite machine had their ideal woman as the mascot, whether 2D or 3D. Ichimatsu's _pachinko_ machine had a 2D girl with cat ears and paws, and she was posed on her fours.

" _Nyaa_! Play with Momo!" the cat girl mewed, causing her ex-boyfriend to wince and grimace. He hesitantly glanced back to see his current girlfriend's expression once more, but again, she was unfazed.

"She's cute," she smiled, "So, she's your good luck?" He nodded, utterly humiliated from exposing one of his fetishes to his girlfriend. "I have ears just like those," she mentioned, "Would that be something you'd like to see me wear?"

The thought of Yukibo with cat ears had him sprout ears of his own. There was nothing sexier to this sextuplet than a hot girl in cat ears. Now his body was burning as much as his face was. He answered, "I think I'd die."

The girlfriend giggled, and in a cheery tone, she said, "I hope she gives me good luck, too. Momo, please be good to me!"

After buying about three-thousand-yen worth of balls, it was finally time to play. Osomatsu still hung around the couple, insisting on teaching the smartest person in their group the proper way to turn a dial.

"The knob is like a boob," he lectured, "You have to handle it the right way to get to her sweet spot."

"What the hell kind of analogy is that?" the fourth brother snapped, flustering from hypocritically also using the knob as a symbolism for a boob.

"So that's why you never win," she retorted, catching both brothers off guard from her snarky comment. Her boyfriend tried his very best to stifle his laughter, but it was made even more difficult seeing the annoyed, defeated look from his older brother's face.

After pouring her playing balls in, she twisted the dial all the way, getting the feel of how the velocity of each ball differed depending on the angle of which she twisted. Though most fell through, a small handful were able to fall into the winning pits, earning her a small bit of balls back. However, none had reach the goal pit of the machine, which would enter her in a slot roulette.

"This is pretty tough," she mentioned, still having most of her earnings in play. Ichimatsu was rather impressed with how she was playing, imagining that her genius brain was performing all sorts of hard math to calculate the optimal velocity of the balls flying into the machine.

"That one almost got in! You just got to turn the dial harder!" the eldest exclaimed, reaching his hand down towards hers on the knob. Before he was even within an inch of her hand, she smacked it away, and the sound from the impact was so loud that it echoed within the noisy walls of the parlor, amplifying it, and then escaped outside where Koreans from across the ocean were able to wince at the sound of the impact. "OW!" he cried out, "That really hurt!" His hand even went red from the smack, causing his fourth brother to snicker.

"I got it from here. You can go," she said to him, without meeting his gaze.

He grumbled, "Fine, I hope you lose," and then stormed off to his _pachinko_ girlfriend.

None of her metal balls were able to reach that roulette pit after so many had failed. She huffed, releasing the dial so she could tuck her hair over her right ear. In a flirty manner, she met her gaze with her boyfriend's, causing him to avert his. "I'm not having much good luck. Maybe I need a good luck kiss," she told him with a wink.

He would kiss her in a heartbeat, but this was the worst place for public displays of affection. Not only were his brothers around, but the other men in the parlor were men he knew and grew up with. Kissing his girl in front of them would get them hot and bothered, and there was nothing worse for him that for the other men to fantasize about the woman he loved.

"I'm not much good luck anyway. A kiss wouldn't make a difference," he argued, though his lips smacked, wanting to kiss her.

"Not even on the cheek?" she asked, pointing at her left cheekbone.

He wanted her lips, but a cheek-kiss was something he could settle for in public. Leaning in cautiously, glancing around for anyone deciding to voyeur, he kissed Yukibo's cheek. He was overwhelmed with a warm, fuzzy feeling, beckoning him to snuggle up to her and rest his body on her like a cat.

"Alright!" she cheered, "I'm going to win big now!"

Suddenly, the metal balls started dropping into the roulette pit more frequently, though the mini-game within the machine was always a bust. The boyfriend was starting to become engaged, believing that she would win. With his arms around her, he was massaging her shoulders, like a coach pepping his boxer during a break. The amount of balls she had still remained about the same, due to all of her small winnings, but they were starting to dwindle.

"You got this," he told her, planting another kiss on her cheek. He no longer cared about how anyone else saw him. No matter how little they thought of him, the only person that mattered was Yukibo. He only wanted to see the purest form of joy from her when she won.

One special metal ball landed in the roulette pit, creating a spin of the slot roulette on the TV screen of the machine. The first slot was of a mouse toy, which was not the jackpot, but then the second slot matched the previous image. Finally, the third slot was the final mouse toy, earning her ten-thousand-yen worth of balls.

"You did it!" he launched up to his feet.

"We did it!" she corrected, getting up with him.

Her body rested on his as she wrapped her delicate arms around his waist. He melted into her, pulling her into a tight embrace. It was not the biggest win, but even a small win meant everything. How did he end up being so lucky to come across her?

"Can you go exchange these? I'll be in the restroom really quick," she mentioned, handing him the tub of metal balls, and he happily obliged.

Once he arrived at the exchange clerk's counter, his five brothers dragged their feet towards him, their expression clearly telling that they lost. They gawked at their fourth brother's winnings, letting their jealousy get the better of them. Winner had to share with the losers, that was the Matsuno sextuplet law.

"Wow! Ichimatsu gets to buy us all beers for once!" Jyushimatsu cheered.

"W-what? No! This is all Yukibo's," he argued, not wanting any of his brothers to touch her earnings.

"Ah, she's part of the family already," the eldest grinned, "Let's head to the pub!"

The other brothers cheered excitedly, eagerly awaiting the cold crisp taste of beer, despite how much their fourth brother rejected the idea. Suddenly a loud familiar sound of a smack was heard off in the distance of the parlor, and both Ichimatsu and Osomatsu recognized the powerful sound as one of Yukibo's smacks. All six brothers followed the source, and they stumbled upon a sleazy looking man holding his red check in pain while Yukibo glared him down. Once that grease ball caught sight of six other men coming to her rescue, he fled the scene, still holding his face.

"HEY!" the fourth sextuplet shouted, storming up to give him another thing to hold in pain. However, Yukibo stopped him in place, and smiled at him lovingly.

"It's alright. I handled it. Thanks for showing up when you did," she told him, brushing her fingers through his hair, which calmed him immediately. Still he glared down the general direction of which that man had fled, but since she was okay, he was able to let it go.

The group of seven celebrated the small win by spending all of Yukibo's winnings on beer and sashimi at their favorite pub. The sextuplets were downing beers like they wanted to lose their liver, and by the end of it all they were red-faced and happy. However, the only girl in their group still kept her first glass, designating herself as the sober, reasonable group member. Still, she enjoyed being in their drunken company. The small incident with that greasy man had completely left their minds as the group laughed and shared anecdotes of their lives in this small town, stories like when they were teasing Chibita, when they were trying to court Totoko, or the innumerable amount of times Iyami tried scamming them or their parents. In such a celebratory atmosphere, the fourth brother could not help but to be overly affectionate to his girlfriend, like a cat to his owner. He drunkenly wrapped his arms around her, even while she was serving his brothers drinks, and he rubbed his face on her shoulders. Still, she remained unfazed by his neediness as she would settle him down by caressing his face. He really was just like a cat.

"Hey, Yankee-bo," the eldest called out.

"You want me to pour you another one?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered, drunkenly, "And also, can you set the rest of us up with some of your friends? Seeing you two all lovey-dovey is making me feel like shit. I can be a good boyfriend, too." His younger brothers would have objected, but he was right: the rest of the sextuplets felt less of a man, seeing the worst Matsu with the best girl.

"Fine," she replied, "But my friends are Americans, and I only know two who would join a group date with you. I'll ask them if they can find three more, but they're probably going to be American as well. Are you guys going to be able to handle that?" The other five sextuplets were thrilled to learn that there were more rich, American girls. All they had to do was maintain whatever Yukibo saw in them, and they could win them over. "I should probably let you all know that they don't speak much Japanese," she added.

" _Noo puraburemu_!" Karamatsu assured, "I can be the interpretor!"

"Are you sure about that?" she asked, in perfect English.

" _Iesu_! _Ai amu shua_!" he replied, impressing the rest of his brothers, " _Kaanto ueeto taa miito zem_!" Even Yukibo was rather impressed by the second sextuplet's English.

"Erm glad ya m'naged to murk fri'nds," Ichimatsu slurred, tightening his embrace. He remembered that she had difficulties making friends in school, but her kindness should have easily won them over. Of all people, Yukibo deserved to have friends, and to deny her that was just cruel from the university students. He felt relieved, though slightly bothered that he would have to share her with her friends.

The group took the long way home, still laughing and cracking terrible puns referring to their childhood adventures. Eventually, they stumbled upon their playground of which they had always played at as kids. Not much had changed over the years, except new paint, more flowers, but all the old set remained. The nostalgia hit them like a truck, and all six brothers rushed in, wanting to relive their childhood in a drunken haze. Luckily for them, there was no one else there to watch six grown men in their twenties acting like they were ten years old again. In a matter of minutes, the child-like rush quickly ended as the boys' aged bodies forced them to relax and sober up on the sets. They all gazed up at the setting sky.

Each brother recalled a few more surreal memories from their childhood. "I remembered something," Osomatsu spoke up, "We met a little girl here sixteen years ago."

It triggered the memory within his younger brothers, mostly affecting his fourth brother. Ichimatsu now vividly remembered a lost little girl that he kept company and protected from a foul-smelling man. He stopped swinging on the swing set, wondering what happened to that little girl. "Shizuko," he muttered, remembering her name.

"That was the name you gave her, big brother Ichimatsu," Jyushimatsu remembered.

"We fought off that creep that tried to take her," Karamatsu added.

"Her parents gave us so much money from just watching over her," Choromatsu mentioned.

Todomatsu smiled, "That money helped out so much, all thanks to her."

"Sounds like a really nice girl," Yukibo grinned. The sextuplets nodded in agreement, warmed by the small act of kindness they gave. That was the sextuplets' proudest moment, reuniting a Japanese-faced, yet English-speaking family. Suddenly, the younger brothers all froze stiff as a thought came across their minds. They jerked their heads to face Yukibo, and the gears turned in their heads. With a big relieved smile, she said, "About time you guys figured it out."

Her boyfriend shot up from the swing set, as he stared in utter shock. The small glimpse of that little girl's face in his memories matched hers. "Sh-Sh-Shizuko?" he stammered.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she greeted.

"What took you so long to come back?" the eldest brother grinned, scratching the bottom of his nose.

She laughed, "I had to plan this whole thing. I wasn't even sure if I was able to find you guys."

The younger brothers had their jaws to the floor, unable to comprehend that a foreigner they met only once, sixteen years ago, would make a surprise appearance. It was even more difficult to wrap their minds around that she waited sixteen years to reunite with their creepy, anti-social brother. It was no wonder she was so understanding and so kind to him. He saved her life all those years ago. Like a cheesy romance, the long-lost lovers were reunited, and although it warmed up the hearts of his brothers, Ichimatsu was upset.

"Was all this just to return a favor?" he asked angrily, "If I hadn't saved you all those years ago, would you have still loved me?" Any of the other brothers would had been ecstatic if they were in Ichimatsu's shoes. It boggled their minds as to why their fourth brother would lash out over something like this.

"If I wanted to return the favor, I would've just paid you," she answered in a cold tone, "I would've continuously paid for your expenses for the rest of your life as thanks for saving my life." The cold stare she gave him sent chills down his spine. This was the most upset Ichimatsu had seen her get, and it was scaring him. "Why would I pursue a relationship with you if I didn't love you?" she asked.

His lips trembled, realizing how petty he was trying to destroy something he tried so hard to build. If this was just a favor, a pitiful forced relationship for him after saving her life all those years ago, he would not be able to bear it. He did not want her to only love him out of obligation, but perhaps that was the only way someone could ever love him. Finally, it had made sense to him, but he hated it. Somehow knowing absolutely nothing put him more at peace than realizing the truth. Yukibo, Shizuko, could only see the little ten-year-old boy that died years ago. He did not want a relationship out of debt, but, more than ever, he did not want her to leave. Even if she never loved him, and only stuck around him to clear her debt, he still loved her. Losing her would kill him, but knowing her love for him was a favor hurt more than being shut out by society. He had no idea how to handle this truth.

"You're an idiot," she spat, shocking him, "I can see it in your face. You think I'm only doing this because I owe you. There are easier ways to pay off a debt." She sat up and walked up to him staring him down with her cold eyes. She spoke, "I love you, because you, alone, decided to protect a little girl who didn't speak a word of Japanese, who couldn't tell you that that man had chased her into that playground. Your own good heart pushed you to save her when that man tried to take her. That's what I love. You were a hero, Ichimatsu. You were my hero. The debt meant nothing to me, because I came back for you."

He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but his fears made his words get caught in his throat. There was nothing he could say to remedy the destruction he caused, and anything he would say would only make things worse. His eyes were begging her to understand, apologizing to her in silence.

"I'm going home," she brushed off, coldly, leaving him feeling abandoned and broken. She continued passed him, and walked further and further away as he just stayed still in the same position holding back the tears stemming from his regret for doubting her. He wanted to collapse and wither away. His worst fear had come true all because of him; she was leaving him. His felt his lungs failing to breathe, his hand trembling uncontrollably, and worst of all his heart was shredding into pieces. The other five brothers had watched silently for too long, learning that their fourth brother was too upset to make things right for them.

"Big brother Ichimatsu, you idiot, go get her!" Todomatsu screamed out, "What are you standing around for?"

"Hurry, big brother Ichimatsu!" Jyushimatsu begged, and shouted for Yukibo, "WAIT!"

Choromatsu faced his oldest brother, his eyes wide from panic. He asked, "Hey, Osomatsu, is he…"

"Yep," the eldest sighed, "It's high school all over again."

Karamatsu rushed up to his younger brother, and he grabbed his shoulders, shaking sense into him. "She's not gone," he shouted, "You can still see her. Go get her!"

How could he face her after that? How could he accuse her of not loving him the right way when he should be grateful that he was ever loved at all? How could a broken shell of a man retain that sliver of pride and use it to sabotage the very thing that humbled him? He had hurt the only person that saw him as desirable, loveable, and good. How could he redeem himself from that?

"Get away from me!" Yukibo's voice was heard a distance away.

Whatever self-loathing Ichimatsu felt quickly disappeared as his overprotective instincts kicked in. All his brothers felt the same sense of urgency, and quickly rushed over to the commotion at hand. That same grease-ball man was there again, but this time he had brought two other men, larger and burlier than himself and the sextuplet.

"Not so tough now without those six, are ya?" he jeered, "I'll teach you a lesson for earlier."

As if possessed by a demon composed and fueled by rage, the fallen hero charged in and launched the hardest, most devastating blow towards the unknowing man's face. He had outrun his brothers at that point, and they were chasing him down, telling him to hold back. Yukibo's typically calm expression had changed to astonishment, as she watched her hero save her for the second time. Three of the sleazy man's teeth flew out, and once he fell on his back, he would not come back up. A single savage slug had rendered this man unconscious, but his two cohorts were wide awake. Before the fourth sextuplet could turn the unconscious man into a dead man, the bigger man launched a strong jab at his face, causing him to stumble. The other large man stood back to laugh and heckle Ichimatsu. The sudden stunner allowed the aggressive man to put in a second blow, but that just made the already rage-fueled boyfriend angrier. With alcohol in his liver and unbridled rage in his heart, Ichimatsu wanted to kill these three men for trying to put their slimy hands on the woman he loved. He grabbed that large man's collar and smashed his face with a ruthless headbutt. It caused the man to stumble back, holding his bleeding, broken nose. The sheer savagery of that headbutt froze the other large lacky in fear. Before any more punches could be thrown, the other five sextuplets had caught up and locked their enraged brother down. The larger man took this opportunity to score a cheap, yet weak blow to his gut. Slightly winded, Ichimatsu broke out of all of his brother's holds and launched a final blow, decking the man in the face. Already with a broken nose, the added punch caused his head to spin, and he fell to his knees. Again, the other brothers held back their ballistic brother, but he was like an animal, struggling with every force of his inhuman strength to break free and murder this man in front of him. The other man clammed up, and stopped his friend from trying to get up and continue the fight in fear for his friend's life. Fists and screams were still being flung, despite both men being incapacitated by their allies, and instead of landing on the opponent, it was hitting those holding them back.

"Calm down!" Jyushimatsu shouted, tightening his hold. Though none of the punches were directed at the fifth brother, he forced himself to bear the wild blows from his fourth brother.

Todomatsu turned back towards the two large men, also bearing the random attacks from his brother, "Get the hell out of here!" Despite their opportunity to flee, the bloody-nosed man still wanted to fight.

The girl had been shouting at her boyfriend, begging him to stop, but when that proved to have fallen on deaf ears, she rushed towards his side, helping his brothers hold him back. "Ichimatsu! I'm fine! Let's go!" she called out, trying to grab his arm.

Blinded by rage, the impact the fourth sextuplet felt on his hand meant nothing to him, until he heard the yelp of a female. His brothers, who had been doing their very best holding him back suddenly loosened their grip as they turned to stare in horror of what just occurred. Both sides stopped raving, as they stared at the girl falling to her side, her cheek reddened from the impact.

He hit her.

"Look at this man! He just hit his woman!" the loud-mouthed man mocked.

He hit her.

The five other brothers surrounded them with their fists ready. "You better get the fuck out of here right now," Choromatsu snarled.

He hit her.

"If you think he was a monster, just wait till you see five more monsters," Karamatsu threatened.

He hit her.

"Take the dead guy and fuck off!" Osomatsu yelled.

He hit her.

Without even a second thought, the two large men got up, grabbed their comatose ring leader, and fled the scene. Now that they were gone, the brothers were able to relax for a bit, but then they tensed up again when they saw their fourth brother staring at his own hands. There was no redemption for him, now that he had put his hands on her. He no longer deserved her, ever.

"Are you alright?" Jyushimatsu asked the girl, as he helped her up.

"I'm fine, it barely hurt," she assured, "Ichimatsu." She tried to approach him, but his fifth brother stopped her.

"You need to leave, too," he told her. She had never seen him look so serious before.

"How can I? Look at him!" she cried out.

His hands were shaking, and his eyes fully widened. He had sunk lower than the creep society had viewed him as; he was a monster all over again. The other four cautiously approached their fourth brother, doing their very best to calm him down. They tried assuring him that she was alright, but then they flinched when he brought his hands to his face.

"Ichimatsu, I'm alright!" Yukibo cried out, but her words could not reach him. Ichimatsu could only hear his own self-loathing, screaming into both ears on what a terrible monster he had become.

"Quickly, let's get you home," Jyushimatsu begged her, "You don't want to see this."

"No!" she yelled, "Ichimatsu! Listen to me! Nothing happened!"

He started breathing heavily, and his tears were streaming, so much so that it dripped onto the ground beneath him. The strong-armed brother grabbed Yukibo and started dragging her away. She fought tooth and nail to stay, but he just lifted her up over his shoulder and carried her off.

"Let me go!" she screamed, "Ichimatsu!" However, Jyushimatsu kept running, trying to get her as far from Ichimatsu as possible. She fought with the athletic brother so much so that she stopped speaking Japanese, and could only scream out in English. "STOP IT! PUT ME DOWN!" she yelled.

He had fallen to his knees with his back hunched. His nails nearly dug into his face as he wept, and his teeth were close to cracking from how hard he gritted them. In only ten years, he was breaking all over again. Over and over again, the sight of Yukibo collapsing and the pain on his hand from when he hit her welt up inside of him, ready to burst at any second. His brothers screamed out to him, begging him to snap out of it, but their words were also drowned out by his self-loathing. The inner voice that had constantly told him how worthless he was, how creepy he was, how monstrous he was, was smashing away whatever was holding back his inevitable breakdown. He was so foolish to believe that he deserved to be loved, so foolish to believe that he could have a second chance. Opening his heart for the second time, just to have it torn to shreds once again. He had worked so hard to become a better man for her, but he failed. He was just, and always would be, unburnable trash.

Jyushimatsu had brought her far enough away, so that at the very least she could not see him. She tried to go back, but he held her back, begging her to leave. Finally, a loud cry blared, startling the birds and even drawing unwanted attention from bystanders. Ichimatsu had screamed for ten whole seconds, which made Yukibo freeze in place. When she glanced at Jyushimatsu, he covered his ears, lurching forward as his tears flowed down his face. The other four that remained with their fourth brother averted their gaze as Ichimatsu collapsed onto the ground, curling into a ball. He had stopped screaming at that point, and just laid down in a catatonic state. His mind was silent for once, and so was his heart.


	9. Chapter 9

His phone had been going off for hours, a new message spawning every few minutes. However, Ichimatsu was at the other end of the bedroom, tucked away in his favorite corner, numb to the tune of his phone and its vibrations. He had slept in that corner since two nights ago, and remained there ever since, despite how hard his brothers tried to pull him away. He had not eaten, nor bathed since, and the only sense of dignity he had left was that he did not piss himself in that corner. Jyushimatsu returned, setting the bag of cat food aside.

"I fed your friends!" he announced, "They were crying out a lot. I bet they miss you." His older brother had a dead stare, and it was hurting him. "I bet Yukibo misses you, too," he added, glancing over at the phone with over a hundred messages.

The other four brothers were downstairs, unable to be in the same room as their numb fourth brother. No matter how hard they tried to distract themselves with books, games, or TV, their identical brother upstairs in their room was broken again, and they felt as helpless as they did the first time. What brought him out before was the affection of a cat, but now even that proved to be useless. They had each brought a stray cat home to cuddle with him the night of, but he still stayed in his corner, unmoving despite five cats rubbing up against his legs and hands. The fifth brother returned downstairs, distraught at the state of his older brother.

"How is he?" Choromatsu asked.

The fifth brother shook his head, "His phone is still going off, though. Yukibo is really worried about him."

"We can't let her see him like this," Karamatsu commented, gritting his teeth.

"What a mess," Todomatsu frowned, "What if he never snaps out of this one?"

"Don't say stuff like that!" Jyushimatsu yelled out, "He's going to get better!"

Getting up from laying on his side, the eldest brother started heading upstairs. "Osomatsu! Don't go in there! You'll make it worse!" the third brother scolded.

"Damn, can't a man piss in his own house?" the eldest grumbled, resuming his way upstairs. However, he lied about wanting to use the bathroom, and went straight into the bedroom where his younger brother had not moved since.

Osomatsu snatched the phone from the couch, reading through all the texts Yukibo sent him. Most begged him to talk with her, asked him if he wanted to come over, luring him with food, items, and even a "special night". With a grin on his face, the eldest knew that the genius rich American was at her wits end trying to snap her pathetic, numb boyfriend out of his catatonic state. The younger brother had not seen any of these texts, since they were still unread by the time Osomatsu held them. Another text appeared, and she warned that she was close by, just a few minutes away from their house. The eldest grinned wider and walked over to Ichimatsu, squatting by him with his phone in hand.

"Yukibo is coming," he told him, showing him the texts, "Look at how much she worries about you. What kind of boyfriend does this to a nice girl like her? Apparently, you do. After all, you hit her. I wonder if she'll show up with a bruise on her face." The eldest saw a small twitch in his eyes. Even if he was unresponsive, he could still hear the crap coming from his older brother. "Must be nice to have a girl trying so hard to win you back. Read this," he told him, pulling up a specific text, "She wants you over for a 'special night', and you're just sitting here letting it slip by you. You fucking idiot, what kind of virgin passes up an opportunity to bang a hot rich girl? Maybe you're not man enough, but I sure am." The eldest watched his younger brother's lips quiver. After scratching the bottom of his nose, he added, "You know how desperate women can get. I bet she's desperate enough to even let me slip in. I do look a lot like you after all." Ichimatsu's lips finally parted, bearing his teeth. His anger was surfacing. "I think I'll go offer her a shoulder to cry on, then maybe she'll offer me something in return. She's the type to always pay her debts, right? Wish your big brother luck," he said as he dropped the phone in front of his younger brother. Osomatsu left the bedroom, leaving his younger brother quaking in his corner. Ichimatsu's eyes finally moved towards the phone, staring at the texts she left.

After a quick piss, Osomatsu headed downstairs, just in time to hear knocking at the front door. The third brother answered, and was surprised to see that Yukibo stopped by. Despite looking clean and composed, her expression showed how distressed she really was. Her eyes were red and puffy, showing that she had been crying recently.

"How is Ichimatsu?" she asked, "He won't respond to me." The third brother shook his head. It was hurting him how much it was hurting her. "Can I see him?" she asked. He wanted to give her some closure, and was about to, but Karamatsu came by before he gave in.

"You can't. He needs more time," he spoke out, "Let me take you home. We'll let you know when he gets better."

"You don't need to take me home. You should stay with him. I know you're really good to him, Karamatsu," she smiled weakly, "I'll be waiting. Please notify me as soon as he improves." Karamatsu nodded, affirming her trust in him. However, she then asked, "Osomatsu, could you talk with me in private?" The younger brothers stared in shock, and even the eldest was taken aback. With a wide toothy grin, the eldest launched out the door by her side.

"Sure! What's on your mind?" he asked loudly, and the two walked a good distance away to keep their conversation private. The younger brothers, though perplexed and suspicious, did not think too much on their conversation. Though it was peculiar as to why she would want to talk with the most obnoxious brother.

"Yankee-bo! You've just made me the happiest man tonight!" the eldest exclaimed, perking up his younger brother's curiosity again. Osomatsu then winked at the rest of his brothers before walking with Yukibo towards the direction of the train station. Was he taking her home? The four younger brothers watched in utter horror as Osomatsu walked with her with his arms around her. Why him, they wondered? Those two were at each other's throats, but now, all of a sudden, she was willing to be alone with him. Just from his enthusiasm, what did he think was going to happen between them?

It just did not sit right with Karamatsu. He took off back up the stairs, wanting to let his little brother know what just happened, and when he came into the room, Ichimatsu was on his knees, clutching onto his phone. Though he was no longer catatonic in his corner, he was still in it. The second brother was at a loss for words, seeing him in so much pain.

"Yukibo," he spoke out in a weakened voice. He then looked up to Karamatsu with his eyes welling up.

Ichimatsu had read through everything she had texted, and though in the beginning she was trying to console him, she ended up apologizing for being dishonest with him. She never meant to hurt him by withholding who she really was, but she wanted a genuine relationship based on their emotions and compatibility, rather than a debt being paid. If she could start all over again, she would. He wanted to start all over as well, as long as it meant he could be with her. For the second time, he had been selfish again, wallowing in his own self-pity while his brothers and his girlfriend worry themselves to death over him. He would let himself and the world around him crumble just because he was too weak to grab hold of it himself. By shutting everyone out, he had spread his pain onto those around him, and that was more monstrous than accidently hitting Yukibo. He was more monstrous for making her so distraught, and now his eldest brother was about to reap in on her weakness. Ichimatsu felt so stupid for believing that his lying older brother had no interest in her. She was absolutely perfect: beautiful, witty, and rich. Of course, Osomatsu would want to clasp onto her and never let go; any of his brothers would, but Ichimatsu was pitiful enough to lose all of that. All because of that incessant self-loathing, he was going to hurt her again, and he just could not let that happen. There was no doubt that he did not deserve her after all he was putting her through, but that sociopathic eldest brother of his deserved her even less. He would not forgive himself if he let her fall into his rotten weasel of an older brother's diabolical clutches. Without speaking, he peered deeply into Karamatsu, his expression tensing more and more as seconds went by. He was gritting his teeth, allowing tears to stream down his redden cheeks. His mind was screaming, though he was silent. Although he desperately wanted to see her, his body just would not move on its own, still numb from yesterday. His wordless expression was begging his older brother for help, and like a good brother, Karamatsu heard it loud and clear.

"I told you. I'm always here for you, _burazaa_ ," he told his younger brother, helping him up to his feet.

They hurried downstairs, so much time had been wasted already. His other brothers were stunned and relieved to see him on his feet.

"Big brother," Jyushimatsu smiled, overjoyed to see that his brother had recovered.

"Did she…" he asked, pausing himself once he saw that no one was at his front door.

"Big brother Osomatsu is already walking her home," the youngest brother replied.

He gritted his teeth out, upset towards Osomatsu, but mostly towards himself for letting his eldest brother have his way again. Who knew how far along the two were, but they were wasting more time standing around. The numbness faded, and his body was rushed with only one desire: to save her again.

Through sheer instinct, he bolted out of the house, and his brothers followed, wanting to make sure both brothers were safe. Ichimatsu arrived at the train station, but it was unbearably crowded with commuters. The train to the metropolitan heart of Tokyo had arrived, and patrons flooded out of the carts, allowing new passengers to enter. The hero and his brothers were shoved back by the flood of people, but his unrelenting determination passed through the crowd. He was inching closer and closer to the train, where the cart was being packed with passengers to the point where they needed to be shoved in. There was no way he could fit inside at this rate. Through one of the train windows, the fourth brother caught sight of Yukibo being pressed against his eldest brother face-to-face, because of the dense packing within the cart. Osomatsu's body was shielding her away from other commuters, but still their bodies were pressed together almost intimately. The doors closed and the train began to move, with Ichimatsu and his brothers still outside.

"Wait! Wait!" he screamed, hitting the train as it rushed by.

Osomatsu finally saw his distressed younger brother, and only grinned widely as he waved. The younger brother's blood began to boil. If he had snapped out of this sooner, this would have never happened. Now he had to wait an agonizing ten minutes for the next train to arrive, and waste another few minutes trying to board and leave.

Once the younger brothers were able to board and exit the next train, they were so far behind that they could no longer see the couple. That meant the two were getting closer to her apartment, which meant Ichimatsu had to quicken his pace even more so. Terrible images played in his mind: his eldest brother putting his hands on her, going under her skirt, putting his lips on her. It mortified him as much as enraged him. His ultimate fear was opening her door and seeing them together. What would he do if he saw them with his own eyes?

Ichimatsu was sprinting at a pace rivaling Olympic runners, and again, his brothers were far behind, desperately trying to catch up. He nearly broke down the doors into the apartment complex, and stopped in front of the elevator. The button nearly pushed in entirely from how impatiently he was pressing it, but eventually, he took to the stairs and climbed all six stories up to her floor. His legs were about ready to collapse, but he was so determined to stop Osomatsu that he ignored the pain and pressed forward. He arrived in front of her door, hastily pressed in the code, and opened it.

His other brothers were catching their breath as they arrived in front of Yukibo's apartment complex. They were not surprised to see her living in such a sleek, expensive building. Still, they had to continue and stop the inevitable death brawl between their rotten brother and their murderous brother.

"About time you guys showed up," they heard just a few feet away. Osomatsu was waving towards his younger brothers as he exited the building. He had taken the elevator down, completely dodging an encounter with his enraged fourth brother.

"I figured you'd be fast the first time, but not this fast," Todomatsu joked.

The eldest leered and scowled, "I just dropped her off. Why would you guys think that of me?"

Karamatsu grabbed him by the collar, and with an intense look, he snapped, "This is the last straw! Just admit it already! You were trying to steal her away!"

"Seriously! What did you think you'd accomplish for trying to snatch Yukibo from under him?" Choromatsu yelled, "You are the worst!"

"It got him out of the house, didn't it?" the eldest grinned, stunning the younger brothers, "You guys are really easy to trick. That's what makes me the best big brother!" Karamatsu released his grip, too stunned to respond that all five of them had played into his hands. "Now it's all up to Yankee-bo from here on out," the eldest added, scratching the bottom of his nose.

As the door opened, Ichimatsu only saw Yukibo, sitting at the dining table. Osomatsu was nowhere to be seen, and that calmed him. She sat up looking so happy to see him, and he was just as happy to see her. Seeing her again after two days made him remember how beautiful she was to him. He wanted to say something to her, but his words were caught in his throat. What could he say to her, after he had hit her and then ignored her for two days? How could he still think he deserved her?

"You're Ichimatsu, right?" she asked. He was confused; did she lose her memory, or her ability to distinguish between him and his brothers? "It's been a long time, hasn't it? Almost sixteen years," she smiled, tears escaping her eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm crying right now, because I've been waiting for this moment to finally meet you again. Do you remember saving a little girl all those years ago?"

She was starting over with him by properly introducing herself as Shizuko, just as she wished in the texts she sent. It was so selfless of her to come out to him with no secrets, no deception. From now on there could only be truth between them. But the nagging thoughts still stirred within him: why would she go through so much just to be with him? Was it all because he saved her life all those years ago? Does she really think he was the same boy from way back then?

"Yes, but I'm not the same as I was back then," he told her, playing along with her re-introduction, "You must be disappointed."

"Not at all!" she smiled, "You're exactly how I remembered."

He was taken back. It was a wide-eyed, happy boy that saved her all those years ago, not the depressing, grungy man standing in front of her. "Why are you being so nice to me? You don't know who I really am," he spat, "I'm just unburnable trash."

"I think underneath all that trash is a good person. After all, you saved me all those years ago," she argued in a cheery tone.

He did not deserve her at all. He argued, "You're mistaken."

"No, I'm very sure of it!" she grinned.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked.

With a warm, loving smile, she responded, "Cause seeing you in front of me now is making my heart pound right out of my chest." He flustered, unable to form words to retort back. In fact, he felt good hearing her say that to him. "It's a bit forward of me, but would you have dinner with me?" she asked. His stomach growled after not eating for two days, and from just hearing the word "dinner", his stomach growled even louder. He reluctantly nodded.

The unburnable trash was in her bathroom, washing his hands and face. While staring at himself in the mirror, he realized how disgusting he looked with red puffy eyes, disheveled hair, and sweat-soaked clothes. He had lost count as to how many times she had to put up with him and his brooding nature. He also lost count on the number of times he screwed up trying to either keep her or set her free. Despite all of that, she still wanted him. Was he really worth it for her? A kind, generous, beautiful girl was willing to become a part of his depressing, ambitionless life. It all felt like a dream too good to be true, but he was so relieved. He was happy that she wanted him, despite all that he was.

"It's ready," she called out, and when he opened the door, the smell of apple curry filled the room. His mouth was watering from the smell and from the delicious presentation of the plate of curry. "I hope you like curry," she mentioned. He loved curry, more so now than ever.

The two sat across from each other, taking their first bite into their food. It was the most delicious bite he had ever had, though it was most likely because he had not eaten. He was scarfing it down, cleaning it of any drop of curry or specks of rice.

"Would you like more?" she asked. He nodded, and she refilled his plate. There was a satisfied smile across her face to have her hero eat her food so enthusiastically. "How have you been?" she asked.

He stopped eating, and looked up at her. She was still playing the pretend game. "Not too great," he played along.

"How so?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

He almost laughed, "Well, look at me. I'm just a big mess, aren't I?"

With a solemn look on her face, she asked, "What happened?"

He set his spoon down as he reopened old wounds from years ago. Though his memories of the events were suppressed, they were still as vivid as the days it happened. "In high school," he explained, "Someone said I killed small animals in my spare time." That rumor spread like wildfire in his school, causing anyone and everyone to avoid him like he was a monster. That awful rumor barred him from making friends, and took away any friends he already had. No one wanted to be associated with an animal killer, even if he was not one to begin with. What broke him the first time was when his crush at the time called him a monster after discovering her panties in his shoe cubby. He liked her because she was nice to him, and to hear her call him a "monster" hurt him so much that he did not want to feel anymore. To protect his fragile heart, he shut everyone out, even his brothers who tried so desperately to help him. If people said he was a monster, then he was one.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," she said to him, clearly upset over what he told her, "I can't believe someone started something like that about you. Didn't your brothers do anything?"

"What could they do?" he spat, "They didn't do a god damn thing. I was alone."

She tried changing the mood, "I would've been there, telling you every single day that you weren't a monster. To think, there was someone who had been in love with you all this time, but was across the Pacific Ocean."

It had never come across him that the little girl he met all those years ago still thought about him. He wondered how different his life would have been if she had been around the entire time. "But they were right. I am one," he sighed, dropping the pretend act, "Let's not pretend anymore. I hit you, and you fell. Why would you ever want to be with me? All I do is hurt you."

"It seems like you don't want to be with me," she responded, looking dejected.

That was not true at all; he would do anything to keep her. She was giving him all these chances, and he was blowing every single one of them. All he had to do was accept her, and she was his again, but he could not let himself. Ultimately, he wanted to save her from himself.

Still pretending, Yukibo apologized, "I didn't mean to be so forward. It must've been really awkward for me to come up to you with my feelings."

"Stop playing pretend. You and I have been dating for weeks," he scolded.

"Being the amazing person you are, you probably already have a girlfriend. I really missed out waiting this long to finally meet you," she continued, wiping her eyes.

"Stop it!" he shouted, "Stop pretending that all we've been through never happened!"

"I'm not upset about it, really. I'm very happy for you. Maybe a little jealous, but I can manage," she smiled, "If there's anything you need, money or property, please don't hesitate to ask me. It's the least I can do for my hero."

"I need you!" he yelled, and then realized what he said.

"What?" she asked.

He simpered, finally happy with himself for letting out his feelings, despite the tears pouring from his eyes. His chest was collapsing. His heart was shattering, but not into pieces like a broken heart would, but what a frozen heart breaking free to accept love once again would. His light whimpering escalated to full blown bawling, as he yammered almost incoherent sentences through his blubbering. "I want to be loved," he sobbed, "I want to feel loved. I've been so alone. I don't want to die alone. I want to have friends, have a girlfriend, get married, have kids. I want a happy life. I want to be happy!"

Yukibo got up from the other side of the dining table and walked over to her blubbering boyfriend. She embraced him, holding his head against her chest. He could hear her heartbeat racing, and it forced him to clasp onto her. The tighter he held, the more he buried his face in her chest, sobbing uncontrollably. However, she stood still, running her fingers through his messy hair.

"I want you, Yukibo," he told her, his voice muffled between her breasts.

"I couldn't hear you," she responded.

He raised his head, his eyes blood-shot and face covered in tears and mucus. "I want you, Yukibo," he told her again, "I never want to lose you again. I'll do anything, just to keep you here with me. Please, stay with me. Please, Yukibo, don't leave me."

"It'll be alright, Ichimatsu. Even if I leave, you know I'll always come back." she smiled, "I've already proven that, haven't I?"

He rose from his seat, embracing her for all the times he doubted them. With nothing left to hide, he finally felt free from his demons that threatened his relationships. Despite all that he was and all that he did, Yukibo would stay by him, and that was all he needed. He refused to let his self-loathing get between him and her ever again.

She whispered to him, "I've loved you for sixteen years, and I'll still love you."

His heart had combusted. His hands left her waist to grab her face and pull her into a long, love-starved kiss. With so much force and so much passion, he had her against the dining table, and she would have fallen back if he had not been holding her. She pressed back, taking it a step further by parting her mouth. Her arms moved underneath his, clasping at his back to pull him in even deeper into her. He took the invitation, launching his tongue to meet with hers once again. Only now had he realized how much he longed for her taste, and she tasted just like how he remembered. His body was steaming; his sweat was practically boiling underneath his clothes. He released her to take off his sweatshirt, and then resumed locking lips with her. Their bodies were pressed together, fitting into each other like puzzle pieces. He had found his way between her legs, and her body was as hot as his. Both were burning underneath their clothes. She moved one of his hand from her face all the way down to her knees to guide his hands up her leg, raising her skirt with it. They were so sleek and smooth, and once he reached her ass, he tightly squeezed the plump rump. Hearing a light moan escape her lips drove him insane, and he did not want to hold back anymore. He wanted her now.

The next morning, the sextuplets minus one awoken to the smell of food. However, this was not the smell of eggs and fish like their mother would make. Curious, one by one, they followed the smell into the living room, and they stumbled upon Ichimatsu laying out boxes of food. Even their parents were surprised, but more so at the fact that their fourth son had been gone all night and just came back this morning, looking livelier than ever.

"Oh, you're all awake," he smiled, "Yukibo and I had breakfast already. I brought some for you guys as well. It's from Denny's." His family still stood silent with only one question going through their mind: did he have sex with her? "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Are you alright?" Choromatsu asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Did it hurt?" Todomatsu added.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Did you fuck her?" Osomatsu blabbed.

Ichimatsu stood silent, the anticipation for his answer was driving the family on edge. "No," he answered, looking dejected.

The eldest laughed, "Because you didn't bathe for two days. Figures!" The fourth brother snarled. "She'd be one hell of a woman if she was able to put up with your smell," he added.

"Yeah, but her hand felt good," Ichimatsu grinned.

His brothers screamed out of pure jealousy, and his parents were irked at the thought, not really wanting to get to know their son's sex life. However, the truth was nothing sexual occurred between the two. Ichimatsu had stopped himself because of his odor, not wanting their first time to be unpleasant for her. Instead, they ended up watching movies together and passing out on her couch with Hadrian. Her hand had been caressing his face the entire time before they fell asleep, soothing him. As he watched his brothers spitefully eat the American breakfast he brought for them, he smiled to himself for taking the first step to grabbing hold of his own life.


End file.
